sylwia kapuscinski

Iraqi Refugees

Abdul Aziz family fled to Amman, Jordan, after insurgents kidnapped their son Fahed in Ramadi and threatened to rape their daughters. Fahed is still missing. Fahed’s oldest brother worked as a translator for American military which insurgents viewed as U.S. collaboration. After they registered with UNHCR office, they learned that the State Department does not resettle refugees from Iraq. More than 100,000 Iraqis have fled to Jordan after the invasion. Most left after they were kidnapped for ransom or feared being kidnapped, and others’ lives were threatened because of their work with the U.S. government. In Jordan, Iraqis aren’t allowed to work and Iraqi children aren’t allowed to attend public schools. Jordan gives Iraqis only a three month visa, after that time they have to pay a penalty for every day they stay in the country.

Sahar Abdul Aziz of Ramadi, 24, looks out into a street in Amman, Jordan. Sahar's 19-year-old brother Fahed was kidnapped by insurgents because his older brother worked as an interpreter for American military. Sahar and her sisters were threatened to be raped.
  
Faisal Abdul Aziz of Ramadi, Iraq, worked for American military as a contracted interpreter. He fled to Jordan after insurgents tried to kill him.
   
"When I first arrived in Amman, I was hiding from everyone, I was scared someone was going to try to kill me," said Faisal Abdul Aziz. Faisal works for a Jordanian construction company as mechanical engineer but makes much less than Jordanians because Iraqis aren't allowed to work in Jordan.
     
  
Abdula Abdul Aziz, 10, on top of a pile of his family's belongings, and his brother Bader Aziz, 15, sitting on the ground, rest as they are moving to a new apartment because they were evicted. Jordanian landlord didn't want a family of ten living in one room apartment.
   
Abdul Aziz Hussein, 69, father of nine children, worked most of his life as a policeman in Kuwait, but had to flee the country after the 1991 Gulf War, he lost his pension in Kuwait. Fourteen years later, Aziz Hussein was forced to flee again, this time his home in Ramadi, Iraq.
  
Sahar Abdul Aziz, 24, from left, and her sisters Hala, 18, and Fatma, 21, clean their apartment in Amman, Jordan.
     
  
Abed Al Rahman Abdul Aziz, 10, plays alone on the porch of his home in Amman, Jordan. Abed Al Rahman can't go to school because Jordan doesn't allow Iraqi children to attend public school and his parents can't afford to send him to a private school.
   
Somaya Abdul Aziz, 28, left, talks to her mother as her sister Hala, 18, second from left, picks out clothes from a refrigerator that the family uses as a closet outside their apartment in Amman, Jordan. The family doesn't have any closets and their fridge is broken.
  
Sahar Abdul Aziz is patching up some holes in her hijab. Sahar studied business management at Al Anbar University in Iraq, but had to leave her education after fleeing to Jordan. In Jordan she works at an Internet Café, six days a week and 12 hours a day and makes U.S. $90 a month.
     
  
Sahar Abdul Aziz, center, relaxes on her day off from work, as her sister Somaya, left, and Hala look at themselves in the mirror at their apartment in Jordan.
   
Abdula Abdul Aziz, 10, of Ramadi, Iraq, enjoys the lights at the Jibeaha Amusement Park in Amman, Jordan.