- Title: Mosul displaced adjust to camp life
- Date: 7th November 2016
- Summary: KHAZER, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 5, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TENTS SEEN AT THE KHAZER REFUGEE CAMP, EAST OF MOSUL DISPLACED PEOPLE WALKING IN THE CAMP VARIOUS OF PEOPLE SURROUNDING A FOOD DISTRIBUTION UNIT VARIOUS OF TWO DISPLACED WOMEN BAKING BREAD VARIOUS OF BREAD ON THE STOVE VARIOUS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN SURROUNDING A STOVE / SMOKE RISING FROM THE BREAD AS IT COOKS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED WOMAN FROM QARAQOSH, UM SAIF, SAYING: "Our children are hungry and crying, so we are baking bread. This smoke has suffocated us. Some of my children are still trapped in Mosul, I ran out without shoes, a friend just gave me a pair. This is our situation, all we want is safety and stability, but we are suffering in the cold weather, no matter how many blankets they give us, it is still cold." WOMAN SPREADING DOUGH WOMAN PLACING THE DOUGH ON THE STOVE PEOPLE WALKING IN A STREET IN THE CAMP VARIOUS OF A FAMILY SURROUNDING A STOVE NEAR THE TENTS DISPLACED WOMAN FROM MOSUL, UM SAAD, PLACING THE DOUGH ON THE STOVE VARIOUS OF UM SAAD AND ANOTHER DISPLACED WOMAN, UM SALIM, SITTING AROUND THE STOVE UM SAAD PREPARING THE DOUGH UM SAAD PLACING THE DOUGH ON THE STOVE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED WOMAN FROM MOSUL, UM SAAD, SAYING: "(We are baking) because our children are hungry, they are hungry, we have been here for several days and the bread we have is not enough, we do not have any money to buy more. They gave us some flour so we started baking for our children. What else can we do?" BREAD ON THE STOVE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED WOMAN FROM MOSUL, UM SALIM, SAYING: "The situation here is good, thank God, but being away from home is difficult. To be away from our family and our tribe, our brothers. What can I say, this was our fate." CHILD SITTING NEAR A STOVE BREAD BAKING ON STOVE CHILDREN EATING BREAD CHILDREN SITTING AROUND THE STOVE
- Embargoed: 22nd November 2016 08:06
- Keywords: Mosul Iraq displaced IS
- Location: KHAZER, IRAQ
- City: KHAZER, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA00157B2C0L
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: East of the Iraqi city of Mosul is the Khazer refugee camp, now home to a growing community of internally displaced Iraqis.
As the battle rages on in the nearby city, women living in the camp attempt to bring some kind of normality to their daily lives.
The women are baking bread, using hot stone and ingredients handed out in the camp.
But life here is far from easy, especially as winter looms.
"Our children are hungry and crying, so we are baking bread. This smoke has suffocated us. Some of my children are still trapped in Mosul, I ran out without shoes, a friend just gave me a pair. This is our situation, all we want is safety and stability, but we are suffering in the cold weather, no matter how many blankets they give us, it is still cold,'' said one woman who escaped the recently recaptured village of Qaraqosh.
Another woman, who escaped from Mosul several days ago said they were forced to adapt to their circumstances in the camp.
"(We are baking) because our children are hungry, they are hungry, we have been here for several days and the bread we have is not enough, we do not have any money to buy more. They gave us some flour so we started baking for our children. What else can we do?" said Um Saad.
Thousands of people have left Mosul since Iraq's regular troops and special forces - along with Shi'ite militias, Kurdish peshmerga fighters and other groups backed by U.S.-led air strikes, launched their campaign to retake the city nearly three weeks ago.
At least 22,000 people have been displaced since the start of the Mosul offensive according to the United Nations, excluding thousands of others from nearby villages forced back to the city by retreating Islamic State fighters who used them as human shields.
The sprawling Khazer camp is home to almost 30 thousand people and the United Nations has warned of a possible exodus of hundreds of thousands of refugees.
The battle for Mosul is expected to be the biggest in the 13 years of turmoil unleashed in Iraq by the 2003 U.S.-led invasion which toppled former president Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Muslim, and brought Iraq's majority Shi'ite Muslims to power. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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