Baghdad Burning: "Water has been a big problem in many areas all over Baghdad. Houses without electric water pumps don’t always have access to water. Today it was the same situation in most of the areas. They say the water came for a couple of hours and then disappeared again. We’re filling up plastic containers and pots just to be on the safe side. It is not a good idea to be caught without water in the June heat in Iraq.

‘I need to bathe the children and wash all these clothes,’ S. called to me as the older of the little girls and I hauled out their overnight bag. ‘And the sheets- you know nothing has been washed since last weeks ajaja…’ We call a dust storm an ‘ajaja’ in Iraq. I don’t think there’s a proper translation for that word. Last week, a few large ajajas kept Baghdad in a sort of pale yellow haze. What happens when an ajaja settles on the city is that within a couple of hours, the air becomes heavy and thick with beige powdery sand. Visibility decreases during these dust storms and it often becomes difficult to drive or see out the window."

(Via Baghdad Burning.)