D. Morrow
19 September 2014
Erbil
The Kaka’i or Ahl-e-Haqq are a minority group that are originally from the southern area of Kurdistan around Halabja and Sulaymaniyah – primarily ethnically Kurdish, they stretch across a region reaching into Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. There are estimated up to three million followers of the faith, which is based in mystical Sufism. For the Kaka’i, like so many other ethnic minorities across this region, displacement is unfortunately not a new phenomenon. The people that are currently camped out in 14-rooms in a mostly-built building here are Kaka’i from Mosul, who came via Qaraqosh. 
When we drive up to the site in the evening light, a man sits playing with his toddler on a faded rug that has been brought outside. Tarps are draped over the edges of the building, behind which a number of women are peeking out at us. The humanitarian aid drop here is for about 25 families. As the men created a neat queue to accept their food and hygiene packs, the women waved me towards the tarp-draped and laundry-strewn walls. I ducked through the opening, and was immediately handed a drooling baby by his 19-year old mother. The women all refused to have their photo taken (more out of embarrassment that anything else), but were willing to show their makeshift quarters. In each tiled room a small pile of blankets and basic items saved from the last aid they received (such as laundry detergent) fill out the corner of an otherwise empty, bare space. Two essential items that the food and hygiene packs are missing are diapers and baby formula.
For now, the Kaka’i here will continue to stay – until whoever is responsible for this building site returns. But it’s not a long-term solution for anyone displaced from war, and as the conflict continues, more will flee to Erbil.
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