[MEI Salon Series] Stories of Hope from Iraq

30 Oct 2020, 3.30pm to 5pm (SGT)

Speaker: Charlene Winfred, Photographer, Singapore

What comes to mind when you think of Iraq? Deserts? Bombs? Soldiers? Destruction? Over the last 50 years, Iraq has seen multiple wars ― the Iran–Iraq war, the first Gulf war, the US invasion, the war with the Islamic State ― and the devastation that comes with prolonged conflict. Millions of lives were lost, and millions were displaced. What does ordinary life look like when you’re a refugee?

Ms Winfred spent a year in Kurdistan, the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, working for a small NGO helping refugees to rebuild their lives in the long shadow of war, and listening to the stories of many refugees. She was struck not only by how unimaginable these stories were to someone like her ― from safe, stable Singapore ― but unexpectedly, also by how much they resonated. These are stories most of us can identify with, no matter who we are, and where or how we live.

What do people who have lived in conflict long for, just like those who live in peace?