When a fiery oil well in Iraq becomes a playground for children

 

Qayyarah, Iraq – Ayad leans against the black wall of a partially destroyed home, gripping an AK-47 in his hands.

He takes a deep breath and sprints across the road, between puddles of spilled oil, towards another house that he imagines is full of fighters. Ayad is followed by five fellow soldiers. Ahead of them, tongues of fire lick upwards from burning oil wells. The scene is apocalyptic.

Suddenly, a worker shouts towards Ayad and his group: “Get away from there, kids – it’s dangerous.”

Ayad is seven years old; his Kalashnikov is made out of cardboard, and every day he plays with a group of two dozen other children around the fiery oil wells of Qayyara, Iraq.

The firefighters and engineers working to extinguish the flames repeatedly warn the children to stop wandering around the fields, but they do not listen. With no school to go to, this area has become their favourite playground….

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