KAWERGOSK, IRAQI-KURDISTAN
100CAMERAS X KAWERGOSK REFUGEE CAMP
100cameras X Kawergosk Refugee Camp is a part of a 8 class course that is custom designed by 100cameras to equip passionate creatives with the tools to empower youth in a community they care about with the opportunity to learn how to process their stories and create change. Pictured here are 100cameras students during the course.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
100cameras X Kawergosk Refugee Camp took place in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in partnership with Barzani Charity Foundation and Whole Heart International, both NGOs serve the community and youth in particular at Kawergosk Refugee Camp through programs that include sports, education, and art.
Kawergosk is home to approximately 8,000 Syrian Kurds who fled the Syrian Civil War and came to Kurdistan Region Iraq. They came thinking they would be able to return home to Syria in a few months, but the fighting is still ongoing to this day, and their stay in Kawergosk Refugee Camp has stretched to eight years. Many youth in the community have spent almost their entire childhoods inside the camp. And while the camp has slowly transformed from a structure of tents to a vibrant cinder block town, opportunities for youth remain limited. For many, connections beyond the camp are only occasional video chats with relatives, and avenues for artistic expression are rare.
“All of the small steps made in supporting the kids to understand and practice introspective thinking were immensely rewarding. Each student has a vibrant inner life of thoughts and feelings, but some students were unaccustomed to digging in and expressing it.”
The participants were excited to see the photographs that other youth had taken throughout fellow 100cameras programs around the world, to join this community, and to now be able to share their own perspectives. Although thinking about their own stories was new for many of them at the start of the program, through the curriculum and guided photo walks, the students leaned into sharing their stories through strength, care, and determination, creating a thoughtful body of work that shows their world through their lens.
MEET THE STUDENTS
“Much of the progress we made was through group discussion and doing the worksheet questions together; as someone with an interest in counseling, it was eye-opening and important to realize the effectiveness of community in helping kids think about their own stories.”
ABOUT THE PROGRAM LEADER
Tim Wu is an experienced Director and Director of Photography who works primarily in documentary and branded content for companies which have included The North Face, LEGO Group, Boucheron, and Anomaly. He is in Kurdistan Region Iraq working on a feature-length documentary about talented young footballers in Kawergosk Refugee Camp.
STUDENT IMAGE GALLERY
“One example was when we were looking at pictures other 100cameras kids had taken, a student in our class (who had struggled with answering questions in class not out of shy-ness) was trying to express why he felt a picture looked sad, eventually he was able to put himself into the position of the photograph’s subject and answer that the animal must feel very burdened to walk uphill with so much on his back. To be able to give such a thoughtful answer was a breakthrough for this student, the youngest in our class, and the rest of the class cheered for him.”
Follow us on social media to see images from the field as captured by the 100cameras X Kawergosk Refugee Camp team and the student photographers.