Vilhelm Stokstad

Photographer

Children of Mosul

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Location: Stockholm

Nationality: Swedish

Biography: My main interest lies in documentary photography. In 2013 i started working on the project Voluntourism , investigating the phenomenon of mixing volunteer work with vacation. As the larger NGOs and more established volunteer agencies,... MORE

MOSUL 20180413 The ruins of old...: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180413
The ruins of old Mosul, which was hit the hardest by the battle for the city and coalition airstrikes, on the other side of the Tigris river.
Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180413 Jafar Helwan is ...: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180413
Jafar Helwan is 11. He is from old Mosul, the western part of Mosul. He lived here with five siblings, mother and father. His father is a day worker. Their house was partly destroyed by coalition airstrikes about a year ago. That was when Jafar got shrapnel in his shoulder and knee. He can still feel it in his shoulder. He has not been able to go to school for three years and works as a baker apprentice with his uncle. When we meet him he is visiting his uncle.

What is your favourite thing?
My bicycle.

What do you like to do?
I like to bake.

What do you hate the most?
I hate all the destruction.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
I want to become a baker.

What is your dream?
I would like to have my own home.

Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180412 A few ice cream ...: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180412
A few ice cream vendors have opened in Mosuls old town, which was subject to the heaviest fighting during the offensive against Daesh.
Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180414 Mustafa Walid, 1...: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180414
Mustafa Walid, 10, lives with his father, mother and three siblings. His dad is a painter and his mom a house wife. They used to live in old Mosul but had to flee to the eastern oarts when Daesh entered their neighbourhood. We meed Mustafa and his father in old Mosul.

What is your favourite thing?
I love my neighbourhood old Mosul.

Why?
It is our neighbourhood.

What so special about it?
It is my old neighbourhood.

What do you hate most of all?
I hate Al-eiser. (The name of the eastern part of Mosul).

Why?
The rents are high and the people is not very nice.

What do you like to do?
Work as a painter.

To work with your father?
Yes.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
A doctor.

What do you dream about?
To live in a castle.

Where?
Anywhere in Iraq, just not east Mosul.

Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180413 A man climbs thr...: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180413
A man climbs through debris and rubble in an alley of Old Mosul, much of which was destroyed by coalition airstrikes during the liberation from ISIS.
Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180414 Mohammed Hareth,...: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180414
Mohammed Hareth, 12, lives in the eastern part of Mosul with his father, mother and four siblings. His father is a civil servant ut out of a job right now.

What is your favourite thing?

My bicycle and my books.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
Play soccer.

What do you hate most of all?
Daesh.

What do you want do when you grow up?
Become self employed.

What are your dreams?
A house.

Why?
To live there, I want a bigger house.

Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180412 A teacher enters...: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180412
A teacher enters the Risala girls school in West Mosul. The school is one of few open in Mosuls old town, which was subject to the heaviest fighting during the offensive against Daesh.
Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180414 Ghuffran Ahmed, ...: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180414
Ghuffran Ahmed, 12. Her family consists of nine girls and three boys. His mother is alive, but his father was taken by Daesh when they first took Mosul, they don’t know if he is dead or alive. She lives with her uncle in the eastern parts of Mosul. We meet her in east Mosul.

What is your favourite thing?
My clothes, my laptop and my toys, but most of all the computer. I use it to play games and do homework.

What do you like to do?
I like to jump rope and to swim and to help mom and do my homework.

What do you hate the most?
I hate war and lies.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
I want to be a dentist.

What are your dreams?
I dream about finishing my studies.

Which university do you want to attend?
The Baghdad University.

Why do you want to study there?
Because it’s a really good university.

Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180412 Selwa Abdughani,...: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180412
Selwa Abdughani, english teacher at the girls school Risala in Mosul. The school is one of few open in Mosuls old town, which was subject to the heaviest fighting during the offensive against Daesh.
Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180413 Marwa Nashwan, 1...: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180413
Marwa Nashwan, 17, lives in the outskirts of Mosul together with her mother and father and three siblings. Her dad works in construction and her mother studies for high school grades. When Daesh overtook her village in June 2014 the family had to flee. During three years they have had to move six times. They moved ack to their home at the end of last year. Upon returning all their furniture and machines had been either destroyed or stolen by Daesh. We meet her in her home.

What is your favourite thing?
The most important thing is security!â€¨Because of war my family have suffered a lot. We had to flee when Daesh took our village.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
I like to help my mom with the house, do my homework or chat with friends on the internet.

What do you hate the most?
Sectarianism!â€¨Friends will shun you for being either sunni or shia. We felt it especially when we where refugees in southern Iraq. It even happened that my long time friends withdrew themselves.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
A lawyer! I want to help people being victims of sectarianism.

Do you have a dream?
I dream of finishing my studies to be a lawyer. Most of all I dream of change. I would also like to bee better in English, I am not good at English.

What do you hope to achieve as a lawyer?
I hope to be able to solve the problems in Iraq coming from sectarianism. I want to end sectarianism. That’s why I want to become a lawyer. I want anyone to be able to live anywhere.
Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180413 A police officer...: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180413
A police officer just fired a shot in the air to scare of a looter in the alleys of old Mosul.
Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180413 Susan Khalouq Ja...: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180413
Susan Khalouq Jawdat, 11 years old, with her siblings and cousins.
She lives in the eastern part of Mosul with her mother, father and three siblings. Her dad is self employed and her mother a house wife. They had to flee when Daesh took their village in June 2014, when they came back all their things were gone or destroyed on account of Daesh occupying their house. We meet Susan in her home.

What is your favourite thing?
I had a doll that I loved. I got it from my father. But I lost it when we where on the run.

What do you hate the most?
All the destroyed houses.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
I like to play with my siblings and to paint and draw.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
I want to be a math teacher. I like mathematics.

Do you like school?
Yes I do.

Do you have good grades?
Decent, she shyly says. I have about 70 to 90 percent. (Iraq has a grading system based on percentages, where 100 is they highest grade).

What are your dreams?
I dream to grow up, become a teacher and help people.

Who do you want to help?
Those that are poor.

You are 11 years old, what do you dream of in the near future?
I dream about passing school.

You have been forced to move a lot in the last three years, have you missed a lot of school?
No.

Was it hard to get new friends at school?
The first weeks it was a bit hard to connect with, but the third week there was no problem.
Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180414 The fun fair in ...: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180414
The fun fair in Mosul was ruin by Daesh during the occupation, but since the liberation the number of visitors have increased to even higher numbers than before Daesh, says the manager.
Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180414 Ali Jamal Aboud,...: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

MOSUL 20180414
Ali Jamal Aboud, 15 years old. Lives with four siblings and his mother in old Mosul. His father is dead. He has not been able to attend school because the family have been forced to move around. Nu they live in their old house, which is partly destroyed. They live in two rooms that are still somewhat intact, but there are no doors or windows. They have lived like that for five months. His father was a merchant, and was killed when Ali was young. His mother works as a seamstress. Ali works 12 hours per day, as a metal worker, to sustain the family. He makes around three to four dollars per day. We met him a Friday at a fun fair in Mosul.

What is your favourite thing?
A mobile phone, but I can not afford to buy one.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
I like to play soccer and to meet my friends. But I work between seven in the morning and seven in the evening, so I don’t have any spare time.

What do you hate most of all?
My uncles, even though they are well off they won’t help us. Once we had to live three days in a garbage room, and they didn’t even help us.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
A doctor.

What do you dream about?
Growing up and becoming a doctor.

Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

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Public Story

Children of Mosul

Copyright Vilhelm Stokstad 2024

Date of Work Apr 2018 - Dec 2018

Updated Dec 2021

Location Mosul, Iraq

Topics Children, Civil Wars, Documentary, Freedom, Hope, Human Rights, Military, Militias, Peace, Peacekeeping, Photography, Photojournalism, Politics, Portraiture, Religion, School/College, Street, Terrorism, War, Youth

Children of Mosul - Life after ISIS in a city of ruins. Almost a year after the liberation of Mosul, the old city is still in ruins, dead bodies are buried in the debris and even lying in the streets. But the schools are opening up and the amusement park is open again. Life and hope is slowly starting to return. In this series we have interviewed the children in Mosul.