REPORT: Mosul couple ties the knot at refugee camp near Erbil

A couple from Mosul on Thursday tied the knot at a camp for displaced people near the Kurdish city of Erbil.

Wearing the traditional Kurdish costumes the groom and the bride were driven in a car decorated with red ribbon from Kalek town west of Erbil, where the bride had her hair done, to al-Khazer camp where the groom moved with his family to escape the violence in his hometown.

The 25-year old Hussein Jerjis and 16-year old Shahad Ahmed Abed have been engaged for four months but could not get married in Mosul because Jerjis' family home in Mosul had been destroyed. His parents left Mosul nearly two months ago and  resettled at Al- Khazer camp.

The bride's parents did not attend the attend the wedding of their daughter as they did not want to leave their house and settle in the camp, however, they agreed to allow their daughter to accompany her fiancé ten days ago and stay with his family until the wedding.

Both Jerjis and Abed are from the eastern side of the Mosul, which was liberated by the Iraqi army over a month ago.

Jerjis, who used to work as a carpenter in his home city of Mosul is now sitting idle like most of the residents of the camp who are living on aid provided by humanitarian organizations and local Kurdish agencies such as the Barzani Charity Foundation.

Jerjis said the Barzani Charity Foundation, which runs the camp, has provided the couple with everything necessary for the wedding, gave them a private tent and booked them a one-night stay at a hotel after the wedding.

The couple said they planned to have five children, immigrate and start a new life away from Iraq.

 

REUTERS


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