Qalawa Refugee Camp: Photos speak the terrible story.

 by Mahdi Abdullah
 Photos by Kurdistan Fatih

 The camp itself is dozens of ramshackle houses that have been erected over a large dirt field. Almost nine thousand families live in the camp. Public services are in a poor state. The sun-burned, rough-looking faces of the children and adults testify to the daily hardship of their lives.

The camp is populated by Arab families that fled violence in other parts of Iraq at the peak of the sectarian conflict in the country in the past few years.

I don't want to say a lot about the situation in that comp. I leave you with the photos to speak with you.

The children mix smile and crying when they ask for the basic needs.

The children of the refugees asked for school and court like any other kids in the city.

Forty-five new students enroll for Spring Semester

By Mahdi Abdullah Murad
AUI-S Voice Staff Reporter

This new academic semester, a large number of new students will join the AUI-S Academic program. Fortyfive new students enrolled at AUI-S. Also, a large group of the students celebrated their graduation ceremony from the English Writing Program and Language Institute (EWPLI) into the Academic program.

A group of 53 students successfully passed from the Academic Entrance Exam (AEE) from level 4, enabling them to enter the spring 2011 Academic courses. “I’m extremely proud of these students and our English teachers,” said Rosalind Warfield-Brown, Director of EWPLI, on the AUI-S Official Website. “They exemplify the best of hard-working, dedicated members of a university community.”

Adding to the old numbers of the students, AUI-S welcomed several new faces for the spring 2011 semester, as Nathan Musselman, Acting Registrar of the AUI-S, said, “I can tell you that we have 45 new students enrolled in classes.”

Musselman added that the new students applied for various majors at AUI-S. “Eighteen of them chose Business as a major, 14 chose Engineering, six chose International Studies, and seven chose Information Systems and Technology.”

The new students were very happy and enthusiastic about being enrolled at AUI-S, and they found the AUI-S system of education very high standard and unique.
“The high standard of education here at AUI-S really encouraged me to apply for studying at AUI-S,” said Mohammed Kais, Level 4 student from Baghdad. “I heard very nice things about AUI-S generally, especially its degree. I knew that I would have a good future that was why I applied for studying at AUI-S.”

Ayas Hussain another EWLPI student from Baghdad said different opinions about the weakness and strengthens of AUI-S.

“The good things about AUI-S are its high standard of education, its sports, and its instructors,” Hussain
added. “Almost everything is good about AUI-S.
It is a wonderful university for the most. The only thing that is not quite good about AUI-S is its building. We hope to move for the new building soon.”

Some AUI-S students said that they were very happy to see several new faces at AUI-S.
“I appreciate AUI-S for accepting such a large group of students,” Kardo Kamil Muhammed, a Business Administration Freshman student from Sulaimani. “I feel I am studying at a real university right now. I see a lot of people who admire to study at AUI-S. Thus, I feel more confidence about my future here at AUI-S. Now I understand that I chose a right place for my studying.”

But some AUI-S students felt the University was not ready to accept such a large number of students due to its small building.

“AUI-S should work faster to finish the new campus then accept more students,” said Kewan Adnan, an Information Systems and Technology Sophomore from Sulaimani. “Right now AUI-S is not ready to fit such a large number of the students because of lack of space. I hope the Administration tries more to finish the new campus and gives us good news about moving to the new campus.Then, it can have a number of students.

“In respect to student confidentiality,” added Musselman. “I’m afraid that we won’t be able to send you the names of the new students."