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Iraqi Children in Egypt and the UNHCR
Janet McGiffin / 22 April 2008
International NGOs working on behalf of children in Egypt, such as Terre des Hommes or Save the Children, are finding it difficult to develop a plan to fill the needs of Iraqi children here, primarily because it seems impossible to determine how many Iraqi children there are in Egypt, and what they need.
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Sponsor a Future Canadian-Iraqi Today!
Matthew Stevens / 20 April 2008
“Have you heard?” I ask a Canadian friend of mine. We are talking about Iraqi refugees here in Cairo. “A group of five Canadian citizens can privately sponsor refugees for resettlement in Canada.”My friend stares back at me. He’s typical middle-class Canadian, well informed, eager to make a difference. He’s never heard of this sponsorship program. “When did they start that?”
Inattention is the barrier... There is simply a lack of government resources to achieve plans that are in place..."
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The Window Overlooking the Yard Behind the Villa
Janet McGiffin / 20 March 2008
On any given morning, a quiet crowd can be found bunched in the yard behind an old colonial villa in Garden City, Cairo. They are gazing up at a certain window. Seventy-five years ago maybe, this villa near the Nile housed a wealthy French, British, or Greek banker or investor who came to build canals, office buildings, or the railroad. They erected these huge villas and held cocktail parties on the broad verandas overlooking the river. Now this decaying yet dignified old home is the medical clinic of Caritas...
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Direct Access to the United States
Matt Burke / 28 March 2008
"Working as an interpreter for the American forces was never safe," remembers Hakim, a 42 year-old Iraqi from Baghdad. His job, translating for Americans training Iraqi policeman at a new Baghdad police academy, lasted a bare four months. "My troubles with the militias and terrorists started very soon after I became an interpreter.," First his car was shot at, then the Iraqi police officers he was training threatened him when Hakim caught them stealing supplies. Eventually, he received a death threat from the Iraqi wing of Al Qaeda accusing him of spying for the Americans.
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Sick Enough for Resettlement
Nida Mariam / 20 March 2008
He left all their medical records behind when, fearing for his life, he fled with his family from Iraq to Cairo. Abdul, once a blacksmith in Iraq, is one of many Iraqis who traded off his belongings as the price of his life. He sold his house and car to pay ransom to his kidnappers and bring his wife and his four daughters to the safety he thought would be Egypt. Today, scrambling around the clinics of greater Cairo getting health tests for his ailing wife and his sickly six-year-old, Abdul is still paying, and it’s money he doesn’t have.
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Pushing Them Back
Sara Angheleddu / 12 March 2008
On 11 July 2007, the European Parliament passed a resolution to recognise "the efforts made by non-border countries of the region such as Egypt to assist Iraqi refugees" and "asks these countries to pursue their efforts" in their favour. The European Parliament also recommended respecting the fundamental rights of Iraqis and their access to basic services such as health and education "with the support of the international community".
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No Work for Doctors
Janet McGiffin / 12 March 2008
“Egypt has so many doctors that they can’t use any more,” reports one of the numerous Iraqi doctors who have settled in Cairo to wait out the war in Iraq. “Egyptian doctors go to the Sudan and to the Gulf to work because there isn’t any work here.”
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The Road to Canada
Matthew Stevens /12 March 2008
"I have been referred to Canada!" Mahmoud [real name withheld] tells me with a smile. The vital phone call from the offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Cairo came ten days ago but this Iraqi pharmacist is still floating on air. A refugee in Cairo for the past year and a half, Mahmoud promptly filled out the necessary forms and carried them to the Canadian Embassy in Cairo. Now he keeps his hand near his mobile phone every minute of the day to make sure he doesn’t miss the next vital telephone call—from the Canadians.
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A Better Place to Live
Sara Angheleddu
Refugees, like all the world’s people, want to wake up in the morning to a chosen life filled with family, friends and opportunities. They want to feel in control of their destinies. They want reasons to smile. For Iraqi refugees in Cairo, the lack of opportunities can lead to feelings of distress.It is difficult for refugees to know what they can do to best move their lives forward. Dr. Nancy Baron, is an American Psychologist/ Family Therapist with 18 years of experience assisting war affected populations in Africa, Asia, Europe and the South Pacific cope with their experiences. She is currently in Cairo consulting to AMERA, Terre des Hommes and the American University in Cairo. In this second article for Iraqi Voices in Cairo, Dr. Baron talks about how how having opportunities can play a part in helping to manage feelings of distress.
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Artist in Exile
Carolyn Bancroft
Fifteen year old Samr, a young refugee from Iraq, started painting only two years ago—when he arrived in Egypt. Before his family left Iraq in 2005, he was just another teenager, the eldest of four children. When the family settled temporarily in Alexandria, he attended a religious school. Now that they live in Cairo, the cost of private school is prohibitive and Samr doesn’t want to attend another religious school. Samr wants to paint.
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Becoming a Refugee
Carolyn Bancroft
Iraqis fleeing to Cairo face a murky labyrinth of survival choices when they arrive and an even murkier bureaucracy when they try to leave. First among the dilemmas is whether to become a refugee.
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