VISIT TO AN ORPHANAGE—WHERE WE HEAR LAUGHTER, IN THE MIDDLE OF WAR-TORN BAGHDAD

While documenting the humanitarian aid mission to Iraq, we were taken to visit an orphanage for girls, which had received financial aid in the past. As soon as we stepped inside the guarded gate, it felt as if we’d entered an oasis of peace. Almost immediately we were greeted by a group of happy faces, vying as young children often do, to be the center of attention—to be the star in the photograph.

Although fairly close to the city center, the orphanage was a world unto itself—built around a central brick courtyard. On one side was the kitchen and dining room with the classrooms and living quarters on the other. The giggling group of young girls who had greeted us followed my camera everywhere, as we toured the facility.

Photo Captions: Greeting Committee. A classroom. Sweeping water that backs up in the hallway. Girls in their Bedroom. The cook in her kitchen.

As we heard in so many places, the orphanage had their own Saddam story: They had received a donation of a shipment of new furniture—as you might be able to tell from the pictures, the rooms are very sparsely furnished. As soon as the administrator in charge of orphanages in Saddam’s government got word of the arrival of the furniture, he confiscated it for use in his own offices.