I Am Here. Iraq.

Satellite images for Iraq made available by Google Maps date back to before the construction of most camps.

Makhmur Camp

35.7605744, 43.6047534

Built in 1998 for Kurdish refugees escaping the conflict opposing Turkish Kurds to the Turkish state.

“We had a very good childhood here, with water shortage and no electricity.”

— Fehdi Urper

“This is life.”

— Herman Yalvaç

“It would be better to call it a castle of resistance, rather than a refugee camp. It was a dry, waterless desert, except for snakes and scorpions, there was not a single tree nor green. The people who escaped from the tyranny of the Turkish state and settled there have struggled to survive under the 50-55 degrees in the summer. In this process, more than 40 children, women, and men died from scorpions and snakes’ bites.”

— Mervan Teymur

Basirma Camp

36.4981091, 44.3413499

Built in 2013 for Syrian refugees escaping the civil war.
Population: 3,112 (2018)

“It's a very beautiful geographic area, but services are a little bit bad.”
تقع في منطقة جغرافية غاية في الجمال لكن الخدمات سيئة بعض الشيء

— Çiyayê Cûdî

“A Syrian Refugee Camp. Compared to the Duhok Camps, this camp lacks a labor market, the labor force is forced to travels long distances to earn a living.”
مخيم اللاجئين السوريين مقارنة بمخيمات دهوك يفتقر هذا المخيم الى وسوق العمل حيث ان الايدي العاملة تقطع مسافات طويلة للحصول على رزقهم

— Hassen Gharibo

“I am in it.”
انا موجود فيه

— Raman Raman

Shariya Camp

36.7938987, 42.965929

Built in 2015 for Yazidi Iraqis escaping the invasion of Sinjar by ISIS.
Population: 15,663 (2020)

“I live here in a beautiful place.”
اعيش هنا مكان جميل

— Kawkab Salih

“Its streets are very bad and the whole camp is nothing.”
شوارعه سيئا جداً و المخيم باكملهي ليس شيئا

— Faouaz Aleaa

“A place like hell.”
مكان يشبه الجحيم

فوزي الهسكاني —

Chamishku Camp

37.1736157, 42.666387

Built in 2014 for Yazidi Iraqis escaping the invasion of Sinjar by ISIS.
Population: 25,150 (2020)

“I lived a lifetime in it.”
عشت عمرآ فيها

— Aswad Mahir

“I miss the good people, I miss my mother and my father.”
أنا مشتاق للناس الطيبين مشتاق الأم والأبي

— Bashdar Rasho

“Summer is coming. No one can save us from the deadly sun but we will survive. The credit belongs to God.”

— Arshad Barjas

Khanke Camp

36.7822532, 42.7736521

Built in 2014 for Yazidi Iraqis escaping the invasion of Sinjar by ISIS.
Population: 14,407 (2020)

“It's very boring.”

— Shahab Ato

“Actually I'm refugee in my country because I'm escaping from my home governorate Mosul shingal because of Isis and now I'm living in this camp I can't feel in life in this camp it's too poor situation but I learned from this life to be smiling whenever I gone and thanks ..”

— Saad Saeed

“And days pass ................. waiting for the unknown.”
و تمضي الايام .................في انتظار المجهول

— Marwan You

Domiz Camp

36.7812565, 42.88137

Built in 2012 for Syrian refugees escaping the civil war.
Population: 42,487 (2018)

“Honestly, the camp is not nice. Houses are small and all stuck together. You want to build a house that doesn't allow them without Al-Qayami and Lawarma and everything. And if you want to build your own house, the organization comes and destroys it. The water from the toilets passes between houses, and our kids play with it and drink from it. Cholera is spreading.”
ولله الصراحة المخيم مو حلو البيوت كلا ببعض ولحريا فيها ضئيلا مثلن انتا بدك تبني بيت ما بيسمحو بدون اليقامي ولفورما وكلشي وئزا بنيت بيتك كبير تجي المنظمي وتخرب بيتك وجانب كل بيت ممر عريض بيمرء بيه ماء الحمامات ولتواليتات الوسخ وكل اولادنا عم يلعبو بهل ماء ويشربو ولئمراض عم تنتشر متل مرض الكوليرا

سمير عنتر علي —

“I’m OK but I’m tired of it.”
لا بأس بها لكني مللت من هناك

— The ghost of Motion Graphics

“I live here in refugee camps in all countries, this is the best camp. There’s everything here, and you have the freedom to travel.”
انا مقيم هنا بالنسبة للمكان على صعيد مخيمات لاجئين في كل الدول هذا افضل مخيم ويتوفر كل شئ هنا ولك الحرية في التنقل والترحال

— Hasn Ebrahim