Homeless Iraqi family takes shelter in ruined Chinese embassy

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, January 12, 2004

Homeless Iraqi family takes shelter in ruined Chinese embassy

Rendered homeless by the US-led war against Iraq, 22-year-old Inas Fadel and the nine members of her husband's family were currently sheltering in the Chinese embassy in west Baghdad.

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Special lodges at Chinese Embassy to Iraq

Rendered homeless by the US-led war against Iraq, 22-year-old Inas Fadel and the nine members of her husband's family were currently sheltering in the Chinese embassy in west Baghdad.

They occupied the empty rooms of the severely-destroyed three-storey building after the coalition forces took over Baghdad and also witnessed the robbery of the embassy by armed thieves in the anarchy that prevailed after the war.

The family still remembered how the robbers looted almost everything in the embassy, including the electric appliances, tables and chairs and even the bathtubs. Cars were stolen. Ceramic tiles were teared down.

They themselves are also victims of the war. The family of Inas's husband used to live in a rented house. But during the war, the landlord, later fleeing to another country, sold out the property and drove them out.

"Because of the war, we can not find a job and can not afford to rent a new house, so we found this place and occupied several rooms," Inas told Xinhua.

Although almost everything were robbed away and garbage and pieces of broken things are scattered all over the embassy yard, the once reception rooms for the diplomatic office building look are like a real home for the family: They have carpets, a stove and even a sofa.

Inas and her husband live in a room of about six square meters, and other family members share a room of about 10 square meters. They all sleep on the cement floor at night.

It was really a surprise to learn that Inas' wedding ceremony was also held inside the embassy compound on July 15 last year.

"Each young girl dreams of holding a big wedding party and inviting all the friends for the celebration, but my husband is poor and homeless, so we cleaned part of the empty embassy and took it as both a shelter and a bridal chamber," she said.

"Thanks for the war, I became the only Iraqi woman married in a foreign embassy," Inas said with a bitter smile.

Sajida Ali, Inas' mother-in-law, described the wedding as simple but "nice", adding that the policemen who guarded the embassy also participated in the wedding party and even fired gunshots for celebration.

"I hope to hold a big party for my son, in a hotel, with all relatives and friends, but we don't even have a place to live, how can we afford that?" she said.

Now three months pregnant, Inas said she hoped she will not be forced to move to another unknown place before the child was born when the Chinese diplomats, who were evacuated to Jordan days before the start of the war, return.

"I felt I owed the Chinese people a lot, because they gave me a place to get married and I hope I can get a chance to work as a maid and my husband as a driver for them when they come back," she said.

After the fall of Saddam Hussein regime, millions of people lost their jobs and while some people gained from the emerge of the new regime, some poor Iraqi people have become even poorer.

A latest UN figure showed that at present the unemployment rate in Iraq is as high as 50 percent strong.

After the end of the war, thousands of Iraqi families, especially the poor, have rushed to live in camps of ex-Iraqi army and headquarters of branches of Baath party, headquarters of security forces, government buildings that were looted by robbers, in order to save the monthly rent for housing.

According to a government source, Iraq now need at least 1 million more rooms to house the homeless people.

However, in the war-torn country, everything is so expensive and in short supply, and for those still struggling for survival, the dream for a house is only a dream.

Inas's only dream was to stay in the Chinese embassy and not to be forced out.

"I have no other places to go, I hope there are not many people who have similar experience like mine," she said, tears in eyes.

Source: Xinhua

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