Iraq: Helping Syrian families get back in touch

26-09-2013 Photo gallery

War and harsh living conditions in Syria are driving thousands of families into neighbouring countries for refuge. Around 2,000 people, who previously settled in Al-Qaim camp, are sheltering in Al-Obeidi refugee camp in the Anbar Governorate of western Iraq, just 30 kilometres from the Syrian border. Many refugees have relatives back in Syria or elsewhere. The ICRC is working in partnership with the Iraqi Red Crescent Society and with the UNHCR’s support to help the refugees maintain family contacts.

- Many refugees in Al-Obeidi camp come from large families in north-eastern Syria. They lack the means to maintain contact with relatives across the border. Shamaa (70), lives with her extended family of 12 in four tents. An Iraqi widow married to a Syrian, she is now a refugee in her own country. With the help of the ICRC she regularly telephones her son in Damascus.
  © ICRC / P. Krzysiek / iq-01152
- Botheina, her husband and seven children came to Iraq from Abu Kamal, a city in eastern Syria along the border with Iraq. Since their arrival in the camp in July 2012, Botheina’s husband and sister-in-law had been unable to reach their parents who decided to remain in Syria.
  © ICRC / P. Krzysiek / iq-01153
- An ICRC team sets a tent in the camp. After Syrian refugees began settling in Al-Qaim and later in Al-Obeidi camp in July 2012, the ICRC assessed their needs in terms of restoring links with members of their families. Although most of the refugees have managed to re-establish such links, many have difficulty maintaining regular contact.
  © ICRC / P. Krzysiek
- The ICRC Tracing Officer briefs the joint team of volunteers and staff from the Iraqi Red Crescent Society and the ICRC before they receive Syrian families. This two-day mission in September 2013 was the fourth to the Iraqi refugee camps located in Anbar Governorate. It involved offering free phone calls to help refugees to stay in touch with their relatives. Nearly 150 families, out of over 300 in Al-Obeidi camp, benefitted from this initiative.
  © ICRC / P. Krzysiek
- Sayyed and his daughter Kirmal are received by a volunteer from the Iraqi Red Crescent Society. One-year-old Kirmal has never seen any of her Syrian relatives, nor her home country. Like most refugees in Al-Obeidi camp, Sayyed crossed into Iraq in mid-2012.
  © ICRC / P. Krzysiek / iq-01154
- Although Sayyed has contacted his closest relatives across the border, he cannot afford to call those living in the Gulf region. He is about to make a long-awaited call to a relative in Saudi Arabia. Each family registered with UNHCR is allowed a three-minute phone call to a destination of their choice.
  © ICRC / P. Krzysiek / iq-01155
- Young Mahmood waits for his aunt Rima, in the background, to make her first call to her parents since the family arrived in Iraq in July 2012. Rima was all teary-eyed and emotional as she heard the voices of her loved ones on the other end of the line.
  © ICRC / P. Krzysiek / iq-01156
- With the support of the UNHCR, which provides the space and necessary facilities, the ICRC works to offer its telephone call service to people in refugee camps in Iraq.
  © ICRC / P. Krzysiek / iq-01157
- Shamaa rejoices as she finally hears the voice of her son in Damascus, and confirms that he is safe and sound. She regularly comes with her friends and neighbours to the ICRC tent to make a three-minute phone call. She says the ICRC service keeps her hoping for a quick end to the war.
  © ICRC / P. Krzysiek / iq-01158
- Not all families can reach their relatives by phone. Amal moved alone to Al-Obeidi camp from Aleppo after her husband died. She has no one to take care of her in the camp and nobody to contact in Syria. She was unable to reach her stepson in Saudi Arabia, her only surviving relative. Therefore the ICRC proposed that Amal write him a Red Cross message to be delivered to the only address she could remember. P. Krzysiek
  © ICRC / P. Krzysiek / iq-01159

Iraq: Helping Syrian families get back in touch

26-09-2013 Photo gallery

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