Photo Essay: Everyday Realities

Refugee child in Azerbaijan who twice had to flee from his home being destroyed in Karabakh by Armenians.

Photo: Oleg Litvin

The realities of rain and mud in a refugee camp.

Photo by Elnur Babayev

Azerbaijani refugees building shelters from mud-dried bricks to replace the tents

that they lived in since 1993.

Photo: Oleg Litvin (1996).

Azerbaijani refugee women prepare bread outside in an open mud brick oven - tandir. Bread is the main sustainance of life for many refugee families. Rations in many camps are limited to five kilos of flour per person per month.

Photo: Blair (January 1997).

Another casualty of the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh has been the environment. One million Azerbaijanis who have fled as refugees from the homes need fuel. Here a refugee man carries part of tree to use as fuel for boiling water, preparing food and keeping warm. Much of the Azerbaijan land has been deforested in regions where refugees are living. Barda Region.

Photo: Blair (1993)

A typical scene: children pouring kerosene to use for fuel in their homes. However, as fuel is very expensive, many families cannot afford it so they rely on cutting down trees or gathering sheep manure.

Photo: Blair. Sabirabad Camp No. 1 (January 1997)

Refugees settling into some of the rundown apartments in Baku.

Photo: Farid Khayrulin (1993)

Azerbaijani refugee women often carry the heavy responsibility of the work load. Here a woman chops wood for cooking and heating her home. Sabirabad Refugee camp in Azerbaijan.

Photo: Blair (1997)

Azerbaijani refugee women often carry the heavy responsibility of the work load. Here a woman chops wood for cooking and heating her home. Sabirabad Refugee camp in Azerbaijan.

Photo: Blair (1997)

Azerbaijani woman displaced after fleeing from invasion by Armenian troops on Azerbaijan territory

Photo by Oleg Litvin

An Azerbaijani refugee woman preparing bread on a kerosene stove. Telmankand camp. January 1997.

Photo: Blair

In winter, as kerosene is usually to expensive for Azerbaijani refugees to buy, some revert to burning sheep manure that they have gathered to ward off the rid of the chill in their mud brick shelters. Sabirabad Camp No. 1, January 1997. Photo: Betty Blair

Most refugee families have very little furniture in their mudbrick and limestone block homes. Still many of them are obliged to spread a cloth and eat on the floor - a practice that is not common in Azerbaijan. Sabirabad Refugee Camp No 1. Photo: Blair (January 1997)

Children in the refugee camp that was sponsored by Turkey up until 1997.

Photo by Blair

Gaining access to potable water is one of the biggest chores and concerns for refugee camps in Azerbaijan. In Baku (1993). Photo: A. Hollmann, UNHCR

Refugee tent camps in Azerbaijan. In winter, the weather can hover between 20 - 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Since late 1996, most tents have been replaced by mud-brick or limestone single room shelters which somewhat reduce the direct exposure to cold winters

and scorching hot summers. Photo: Oleg Litvin (1994)

Entrepreneurship: a little store front established from a single room mud-brick home. Goods are sold from window and include tea, soap and vegetable oil. One of the greatest tragedies of the Azerbaijani refugee camps is that most children are not getting any formal education.

Photo: Elnur Babayev, Sabirabad camp (1996).

Collecting water continues to be a serious problem in Azerbaijani refugee camps. Often the water is only available limited hours of the day. Sabirabad camp No 1. has 12,000 refugees.

Photo: Blair (January 1997)

One of the greatest tragedies of Azerbaijani refugee life is the stress that the flight from homelands and the inhumane living conditions in refugee camps have made the elder male members of families. Often women have to take on both the physical and psychological responsibilities of the survival of the family, a traditional male role.

Photo: R. Redmond of the UNHCR (1994).