Look Who it Was Random video

IRAQ | "We lost everything we had built in 60 years in one night"

407 views · Published 24 June 2016 · 2:10 · Indexed 28 October 2026

Channel: Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders · 2016 · Nonprofits & Activism

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When Islamic State (IS) took over his home towm of Ramadi, Hameed Khalaf Ahmed was forced to leave. 

He is one of over 3.2 million Iraqis now displaced within the country.
Hameed is a farmer and father of ten who owned a bit of land in the village of al Hamadeya, on the outskirts of Ramadi. His wife ran a convenience store in the village.

On 5 August 2014, when IS attacked al Hamadeya, he fled with his family to al Malaab, a nearby village a few kilometers from Ramadi. He moved into a house his cousin arranged for him and lived there for a few months.

Al Hamadeya also eventually fell to IS, however, and on 17 March 2015 Hameed was forced to flee again, this time in the direction of Abu Ghraib, a district west of Baghdad.

The whole family fled together, except for one of Hameed’s daughters, Afaq, who stayed behind with her husband. Afaq’s house was hit by airstrikes and nine family members were killed, including her husband. 

Fleeing across IS-controlled villages was not easy for someone who had lost everything. In Abu Ghraib, Hameed gets by on handouts from neighbors and local charities. He is traumatized by the violence he witnessed and hopes to return to his house and land in Ramadi. “We have no ties here in Baghdad. Why should I stay? Back there I have relatives, friends and my sister. I would rather return to Ramadi.”

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international, independent, medical humanitarian organisation that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters and exclusion from healthcare.

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