Life in an IDP camp through the lens of an 11-year-old Yazidi student — Assembly

The organisation 100cameras teaches students like Shireen how to tell their stories through photography.

Walking through her internally displaced people (IDP) camp in Khanke, Kurdistan, 11-year-old student Shireen pauses to snap photos. A bed of flowers outside a metal fence. A group of kids playing football. Rows of tents and hanging sheets. Her photographs capture the daily realities of her displaced Yazidi community, who had to flee their homes in Sinjar after an attack by Islamic State fighters in 2014.

Shireen became interested in photography last year after attending a photography class held by the organisation 100cameras at her camp’s community centre. 100cameras teaches photography to students in challenging circumstances and helps them to process their feelings and tell their stories through images. Student photographs are for sale on 100cameras’ website, with proceeds going back to their communities. Students in Khanke raised almost $2,000 to buy school supplies and clothes for their families.

Shireen’s father, a painter, helped spark her interest in visual arts — her mother says Shireen “always watches him” while he works. Shireen’s quiet, observant demeanour helps her in documenting daily life inside the camp.

She hopes that one day her photos can help raise awareness about the persecution of Yazidis, a minority religion in Iraq. “I want people to know about our escaping, that we needed to escape. That we went to the mountain, we were tortured. I want them to know this,” she shares.

In a photo essay for Assembly, Shireen shares images from her IDP camp in Khanke and the surrounding area.

(Courtesy of Shireen, 100cameras student)

During each 100cameras lesson, students walk through their community shooting photos and documenting their stories. Shireen took this image at a local market. The merchants pictured here previously had shops in Sinjar before Islamic State fighters invaded. For this photo, Shireen employed the techniques of patterns, repetition and symmetry that she learned in class.

“I am happy,” says Shireen of her life in the IDP camp in Khanke. “My family loves me a lot. I go to school with my friends, and it is nice, and I have fun there… Our neighbourhood and our neighbours are nice.” This portrait by Shireen captures her sense of optimism and the perseverance of the Yazidi community.

Shireen chose to photograph flowers on the camp’s border, including the fence in her image to add a layer of texture and visual interest. 100cameras teaches students to express themselves through photographic techniques like this.

In this landscape shot, Shireen looks out onto a football field, a street and the tents from an “illegal” camp set up by community members after the official camp became overcrowded. Over 1.55 million people are displaced across Iraq, many without access to education and health care.

At the community centre in Khanke, children and adults receive medical care and general support, as well as attend classes and workshops. Shireen photographed students playing a game of football on the community centre’s popular pitch.