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The RIFO FAMILY
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CNEWA.ORG/WEB/ RIFO
“I volunteer to clean the basement with other young people,” says Inas Matti. “We try to keep the toilets and other places clean.” As for Fadia and Saaed, they try their best to keep fear and anxiety from their children. Silently, though, they worry about what the future holds for them. They do, however, have one solid source of comfort when the worry seems to become too much for them. Buried deep under stacks of clothes, blankets, foam mattresses, cutlery and pots and pans, Fadia has hidden her most cherished possession that she managed to bring from their home in Qaraqosh: a photo album. She excavates it — an endeavor that takes some minutes and much dishevelment of the living quarter’s order — and sits down quietly, smiling as she turns each page. On one page, is a photo of Inas at a cousin’s wedding in Qaraqosh the year before; elsewhere, a picture of
The BASSIH FAMILY CNEWA.ORG/WEB/ BASSIH
Diana and her cousins; a family portrait from a few years back; Fadia and her sisters wearing colorful dresses at a wedding years ago; studio portraits of each of the Matti children in new sets of clothes; Saaed playing the flute at a wedding party; a kindergarten graduation ceremony. Inas’ first Holy Communion. Easter. Christmas… Sometimes Fadia’s mind is so deeply entrenched in the past, escaping the grim anxious present for the secure, halcyon days in Qaraqosh, that she simply forgets where she is. On giving instructions to her children to go do certain tasks, she frequently uses landmarks or references that relate to their house in Qaraqosh and not the basement dystopia where the family now lives. “I love Qaraqosh. It’s my spirit. It’s my soul,” says Fadia as she leafs through the album. “We hope we will go back and that Christianity will remain in Iraq. My hope is in God and in Our Lady. It is impossible that Christianity will disappear.”
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