2006年VOA标准英语-Iranian Kurdish Refugees Find Shelter in Northe

By Margaret Besheer
Qushtapa, Iraq
20 June 2006

 
Kawa Refugee Camp 
  
International refugee agencies say nearly one million Iraqis have fled their country since the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in March 2003.  But Iraq is also host to a small and long-standing refugee population of several thousand Turkish and Iranian Kurds.  On World Refugee Day, VOA's Margaret Besheer visited the Kawa Refugee Camp in the northern Iraqi town of Qushtapa, and brings us this report.

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In a hot, dusty camp on the outskirts¹ of Irbil city stands a small town of tents, tarps, and cinder² blocks.  For the past eight months it has been home to more than 200 families of Iranian Kurds.

The Kawa Transit³ Camp was established last October by the U.N. Refugee Agency to house refugees who had been living in another camp in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi for more than 20 years.  Those refugees initially⁴ fled their homes in Iran during the Iran-Iraq war that raged during the 1980s and killed an estimated one million people.

But the refugees had to be moved from Ramadi last year after insurgent-inspired violence made the city too dangerous for both aid workers and refugees.  The Kurdish regional government provided the land for the Kawa Camp.

Chinour, 18, and her seven brothers and sisters were born in the camp at Ramadi.  Now they live at Kawa with their parents.

The Chinour family  
  
Chinour says, "We came here because the security situation in Ramadi was bad and because the terrorists were killing⁵ people and the families were all afraid."

Although there is a secondary school at Kawa, Chinour, like many other girls, does not attend because she must help her father in his small grocery store.  But camp officials say the attendance rate is better among younger children and that the primary school has about 400 students.

Chinour's family home consists of one bare room built from cinder blocks where the family eats, socializes and sleeps.  Outside is a small courtyard draped with plastic sheeting for privacy. 

But the family has electricity to run a fan in the intense heat and they also have a color television.  In fact, many of their neighbors even have satellite dishes outside their tents.

 
Kawa Refugee Camp 
  
Camp Kawa's daily operations are handled by a small Swedish-based non-governmental organization called Qandil.  Joann Kingsley is the field coordinator⁶ for the camp.  She says water and electricity are better at Kawa than in some other parts of Iraq.

"Are they getting more power than everyone else?  Yes they are," she said.  "Do they need it?  Absolutely.  They are not living in the same conditions."

The families also receive 95 liters of water each day for cooking, drinking and bathing.

The camp has a healthcare center and a library.  There are sports and other activities for the children, who make up about half the camp's population of nearly 1,300 people.  

Children at Camp Kawa   
  
Along the camp's main road are several small shops run by residents.

Kingsley says the camp has programs to help the refugees get off assistance and become self-sufficient.

"It is a bit more difficult for the women," she added.  "The traditional cultural values here are extremely conservative, so women are often not permitted to do anything outside their tents.  So we have to find things that are culturally appropriate."

She says they are offering sewing, which women can do at home, and are considering offering training in bee keeping and computers.  For the men, there is training in carpentry, welding and electrical work, as well as English classes.

Although they are better off than refugees in some other countries, life at Kawa is not easy.  But hopefully it will improve soon, as permanent homes are being built nearby for the Kawa families.

1 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

2 cinder   

n.余烬，矿渣

参考例句：

• The new technology for the preparation of superfine ferric oxide from pyrite cinder is studied.研究了用硫铁矿烧渣为原料，制取超细氧化铁红的新工艺。
• The cinder contains useful iron,down from producing sulphuric acid by contact process.接触法制硫酸的矿渣中含有铁矿。

3 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

4 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

5 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

6 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？