Riyad, a civil engineer who lives in Salhia, in central Baghdad, joined the ICRC in 1999 to work as a security guard before becoming a radio operator. He says: “The greatest concern among Iraqis today is about sectarian violence.

Following the outbreak of the war, the ICRC gave me two options: to stay at home or continue working. Like several other colleagues I chose to continue working. Regardless of the risks involved I returned to work because I felt that we were needed out there. But firstly I rented my house out and moved with my family to a safer place. Of course that was very costly, but we needed to be closer to public services so as to limit our exposure to danger.

Other colleagues are not so lucky. When they go to the market, they do it hastily and are relieved to get home safely. This is true of some areas, but not all.

Before the war, it took me 12 minutes to reach my office. Now on an average it takes an hour. Those who live farther away in areas such as Ghazalia, west of Baghdad, sometimes take over two hours to reach the office. Today, with all the lurking dangers, getting to work remains a dangerous affair. We are now used to this new climate of fear. I don’t know whether this is good or bad, but we have no choice.

My family and I have no plans to move unless we have to. I have five children – the eldest graduated this year with a degree in computer science”.