Madi’s one-year-old son Bilal has been suffering from extreme heat rash since arriving in Bahari Taza. Madi got some medicine from Khanaqin hospital but it soon ran out. Getting more has proved difficult.

Even so, Madi says he feels fortunate to be in Bahari Taza instead of Jalawla. Even if medicine and supplies are scarce, at least he knows his children are safe, he says.

Ali Farthal Rahim, a 40-year-old construction worker, is a Sunni Arab from Sharaban. Rahim says Sharaban was a diverse town, home to Sunni and Shia Arabs and a sizable number of Kurds and Turkmen. Shia militia attacks forced Rahim and his family—wife, six kids and a daughter-in-law—to flee on June 16.

His daughter-in-law is a recent addition to the family, having married his son only three days before the family fled. They went to Kirkuk first but authorities said they couldn’t stay.

Ali Farthal Rahim. Matt Cetti-Roberts photo

They heard about the camp in Bahari Taza. It wasn’t an easy trip. Though a Sunni, Rahim hoped to avoid ISIS lines, so couldn’t take the direct route to Bahari Taza.

Rahim says he would like to relocate farther into Kurdish-controlled territory. But to do so, they require a Kurdish sponsor.

Bahari Taza is not the worst place they could have landed. He says that the locals have treated his family well.

“We did what we have to do, we did [the only thing] we could do,” mukhtar Ali explains when asked why his people have taken in so many people. Ali and the people of Bahari Taza and NGOs are doing their best to find space for the displaced, but Ali knows it is only a matter of time before they run out of space for them.

The U.N. and the Red Cross are scrambling to build more camps near Khanaqin to meet the huge demand for shelter.

You can follow photographer Matt Cetti-Roberts on Twitter at @unknownsnapper and Kevin Knodell at @KJKnodell. Sign up for a daily War is Boring email update here. Subscribe to WIB’s RSS feed here and follow the main page here.