Reference :
V-P-SD-E-02398
Date :
10/2009
Caption :
Sadoon village. This woman and her chidren returned to their village after four years of displacement. Now they live in a temporary shelter provided by the ICRC.
Confidentiality level :
public
Publication restrictions :
publication without restrictions
Description :
13-18 october 2009.
Mariam is the character described by John Sparrow in [ICRC] Special Report on IDPs called Displacement: Facing the Challenges. She has never been in camp and had little assistance.
Mariam:
"Before the war, I had a very nice big hut on a piece of land and I had to leave everything. Then we had to make huts out of plastic.
The war started at nine o clock at night in my village. Some people were injured, some died. I spent 2 days running away, carrying our children, looking for another safe village to go to. I was able only to take what I had on me and carry my children. I had the baby on my back, we were exhausted. On the third day my baby died. His name was Ahmad and he was strong and healthy, no problems, but the exhaustion and tiredness caused his death.
The war was going on as we were running away. We couldn't find our way to the [IDP] camp as the road was not safe. We finally reached a safe village. We rest there and we had some water to drink. We camped under the trees for about 4 days. Finally, people bought us tarpaulins and we built some plastic huts.
Now [recently] that the war has cooled down we came back to our village , this is our place, Sadoon is my village.
When we came back to Sadoon, the ICRC gave us tarpaulins, stoves, kitchen utensils. We sometimes have to go far to fetch water.
God willing, (wallah) I wish they [ICRC] would bring us a school for the kids, I wish they would bring us water, and I wish they would bring us food.
I think, the war is over, only God knows. It is not well known that is finished but with Gods grace it has ended. (smiles) And I hope the war has actually finished."
Original material :
digital
Resolution :
4256x2832
Orientation :
landscape
Colour/B&W :
colour
