This article contains recent photos from inside Fallujah taken by CPT

With little option for a second sight, girls in Fallujah have to attend class in a building damaged in the U.S. lead raid on Fallujah. Fallujah, Iraq (photo: CPT)

By Sheila Provencher
Christian Peacemaker Teams
March 21, 2005

As we approached the cluster of tents in the Gebeil section of Fallujah on March 14, we didn’t know what to expect. We had been amazed that we even got inside the city through the tight security of three U.S. military checkpoints. We were also warned that if the word got around that there were Americans in the city, our lives could be in danger.

We had seen sections of Fallujah where the buildings were destroyed but still standing. But now our group of five CPTers and six Iraqis, several of them Shia, witnessed a vast area of the predominantly Sunni city where it looked like an earthquake had struck. There were piles of rubble where there had once been homes. Members of one of the displaced families greeted us warmly and invited us into their tent.

As the women heated water for tea on the small gas burner in the corner of the tent, we met many of the 25 family members that live in that 10′ by 15′ space. The elderly father began to tell the family’s story. In November 2004, they had left their home after U.S. forces warned of impending attacks, and went with other Fallujans to occupy a school in the nearby village of Halabreh. A month ago the family had to leave the school so it could resume operation, so returned to Fallujah. Because their home had been totally destroyed, the Red Crescent provided them the tent and four blankets. They had pulled out broken furniture from the rubble to burn for heat and cooking during the colder weather.

“Thank you,” several of the women said to us as they fervently hugged and kissed the women in our group. I walked away in awe. We hadn’t done anything tangible to help them and we were from the country that had destroyed their city and their home.

Later, we had a long talk with a religious sheikh, who gave a grave and passionate account of the devastation of Fallujah and its forced isolation during the past four months. The most important thing we could do to help them, he said, is to let people outside know about the destruction of Fallujah and the suffering of the people. As we talked about the difficulties of contacting him from Baghdad, he told us, “Our hearts are open, but the borders are closed.” We agreed. We saw the physical borders and the borders of prejudice and fear, but we also experienced, that day, a lot of open hearts.

Pock marks and school girls in classroom. Fallujah, Iraq (photo: CPT)

Those Iraqi families that stayed in Fallujah had to receive water from large gray tanks such as seen here. Some Iraqis said the water was not fit for drinking. (photo: CPT)

Iraqi home destroyed in the battle of Fallujah. (photo: CPT)

School girls look at the damage that U.S. forces did to their school during the fighting in Fallujah. (photo: CPT)

Christian Peacemaker Teams is an ecumenical violence-reduction program with roots in the historic peace churches. Teams of trained peace workers live in areas of lethal conflict around the world. CPT has been present in Iraq since October, 2002. To learn more about CPT, please visit www.cpt.org. Photos of CPT projects may be viewed at www.cpt.org/gallery