Displaced #9 – Iraq
Evocative stories of people who have to leave their homes due to climate change.
Our project is slowly coming to an end. Our trip to Iraq at the beginning of June was our second last destination. As it turned out last Friday, we were quite lucky with the timing. The outbreak of war between Israel and Iran would have made such a trip impossible. And if we had still been in the country last week, the return journey would have been extremely complicated, as there are no longer any flights from and to Iraq. Lucky us!
At the beginning of July, we have one last trip to Mongolia before an extremely intensive post-production awaits us. While most people are going on summer vacation, we will have to use this time to prepare for the first major exhibition of our work at the Haus der Fotografie in Olten. You can already save the date of the opening: August 20, 2025, on the occasion of the opening of the IPFO Photo Festival.
Yours
Mathias & Monika
BRASCHLER/FISCHER
+41 79 205 0330
visualimpactprojects.org
CH40 8080 8009 0719 6376 6
Hellgasse 4 – 5103 Wildegg
When we started our project, Iraq was not one of our intended destinations. However, discussions with the World Food Programme and additional research showed that Iraq is now one of the countries most affected by climate change.
A trip to Iraq is not like any other trip. Mesopotamia, the land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, is considered one of the cradles of civilization, but in the last 50 years Iraq has been involved in wars and civil wars almost non-stop. Only the last 4 years have been quite stable by Iraqi standards. That’s why the country is classified by the UN as a “Non Family Duty Station”, one reason why Elias stayed at home this time.
Even on the flight from Basra to Doha, it was clear that this trip would be thematically dominated by men. In the fully occupied Airbus 320, there were just 5 women on board, including Monika. Once we arrived in Basra, it took over 2 hours before we could finally leave the airport behind us. The customs authorities were extremely suspicious of our photographic equipment and it took over an hour before we finally received permission to enter the country with our luggage.
On the very first day, we witnessed the great Iraqi hospitality when we were invited to a lavish lunch. We then used the rest of the day to acclimatize to the intense heat and to get our bearings in Basra, the southern Iraqi metropolis. And it was indeed hot. The thermometer reached between 45 and 48 degrees Celsius every day, and at midday you could hardly stand in the blazing sun.
Things really got going on the second day after Steffen Gassel, the Stern journalist accompanying our story, joined us. At least we thought we were ready to go. We were quite surprised when Suhad, our local assistant, insisted that we first visit the largest mosque in the city in the morning. A program point that was non-negotiable. However, our expectation that we would be able to get to work afterwards turned out to be wrong once again. The driver had organized a big feast at his home. And since a big Iraqi lunch takes much longer than ours, we didn’t meet the first potential protagonists until 4.30 pm. But even there, we first first had to drink a good cup of tea and exchange pleasantries before it became clear around 6 p.m. that although people were no longer living in their traditional place, this had little to do with climate change and more to do with all the previous conflicts. Slightly disillusioned, we returned to our hotel with the realization that the clocks run differently in Iraq.
The next morning we set off at 5 a.m. to drive to the marshes north of Basra. There have been large marshes in southern Iraq for thousands of years, in the area where the Euphrates and Tigris rivers meet. These marshes are drying out more and more, and the marsh Arabs, who have lived there since pre-Christian times, are being deprived of their livelihood. One problem is dams in Turkey and Iran, but a key factor is climate change. Increasingly higher temperatures combined with less and less precipitation are causing the water in the marshes to become more and more saline, or even disappear completely.
In order to meet the Marsh Arabs, who had already moved to new marsh areas due to the drought, we had to use small boats to get around. But patience was also required this morning. The young Marsh Arab suggested by Suhad did no longer want to take part when we were there. So we continued with our boats, met a young woman who would have been willing to tell us her story until her brother-in-law turned up and forbade her to participate. In fact, she was the only woman who was introduced to us for this project in 6 days in Iraq. Otherwise, only men were introduced to us and we hardly ever saw a woman, as they had to stay in the women’s quarters while we were there.
In the end, however, we found what we were looking for in the marshes and after another boat trip we met Mohsen Jasim Wawee, a marsh farmer who had lost most of his water buffaloes due to the persistent drought. In desperation, he wanted to sell his remaining buffaloes to start a new life elsewhere. But when potential buyers found out that the majority of his animals had died, he could no longer find anyone to buy the water buffalo for fear of disease. So he moved on to find a new place in the marshes and continued to live there as a farmer. Knowing that he would soon be threatened by the drying up of the marshes here too.
On our departure, our expedition was then hit by a small mishap. Suhad, the activist who was supporting us, didn’t manage to get into the boat and fell into the swamp. This led to gleeful laughter from the teenagers on land. It took us a while to get her out of the swamp, and luckily she took the whole ordeal in good humor.
While the first two days of our trip to Iraq were not too efficient, with only one protagonist, this was to change when Saif Altatooz, Head of Communications at World Food Programme Iraq, joined us. Together with Mohammed, a great stringer with whom Steffen had already worked, he made it possible to meet displaced people with a wide variety of stories. For example, a group of young men who had to give up their farming livelihoods and now live in illegal camps on the outskirts of Basra and earn a living as construction workers. Or Abbas Gurain Hubaish Alammary, a Marsh Arab who until a few years ago lived a rustic life with his family in the middle of the marshes. Until the majority of his water buffaloes fell victim to the drought and he was forced to move into a house on the outskirts of the nearest village. In an impressive interview, he tells us what it means for a Marsh Arab to lose his animals and give up the lifestyle of his ancestors forever. Abbas also took us to the remains of his reed huts in the dry marshes, where he and his family had lived, like countless generations of his ancestors before him.
Abbas was also to be the protagonist of our Iraq video. In order to have enough footage of him, we decided to film him the next morning as he worked with his animals. As he started milking and feeding the water buffaloes at 5am, but our hotel was 2 hours away in Basra, Mathias and Mohammed had to leave by car shortly after 3am. But he was happy to do it for a few good film shots. Once there, he discovered that Abbas was spending the morning looking after the animals with his wife and eldest daughter. The three of them milked and fed the animals in the beautiful early morning light. A perfect scene, which unfortunately was never captured on film. Abbas emphasized to Mathias that he didn’t consider it appropriate to film or photograph adult female members of his family. Mathias was then condemned to wait on a nearby road until most of the work had been completed. In the end, Abbas took pity on him, sent his wife and daughter into the house and milked another water buffalo, whereby Mathias had to keep a safe distance, as Abbas was not sure whether Mathias had the “Evil Eye” and could thus cause his buffalo to fall into misfortune.
But on the day of our departure, it turned out that Iraq had another surprise in store for us. After going through countless security screenings and finally checking in our luggage, exactly with the 60 kilograms allowed, we were asked by a Qatar Airways Ground Staff Manager to put our hand luggage on the scale. The two bags with our photo equipment and our video equipment both weighed 11 kg. He explained to us that he couldn’t possibly allow this as only 8 kg were permitted. This was followed by long and heated discussions in which we explained to him that we couldn’t possibly check in equipment worth around $40,000, and that we were always, on all our trips, allowed to bring these bags as hand luggage. But he said he couldn’t let us fly like this unless we bought an upgrade to Business Class. After further tough negotiations, we managed to persuade him that only one person had to buy an upgrade from Basra to Doha. Nevertheless, in the end it cost us $550.
What we will remember most about this trip are the hot days, the many adventures, warm-hearted people, great teamwork with Steffen, Saif and Mohammed and, of course, the incredible Iraqi hospitality.
