The project’s leader believes the color blue serves to comfort the local population.

Morgan Hekking holds a BA in International Relations from Hobart & William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York.

Rabat – A group of Iraqi youth in Mosul, northern Iraq, repainted an old neighborhood to emulate Chefchaouen’s signature blue after the area sustained significant damage in 2017 due to conflict between ISIS and Iraqi forces.

A student at the University of Mosul, Muhammad Abdul-Haq, led the initiative in the 150-year-old Al-Mashahada neighborhood.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Abdul-Haq explained he got the idea for the project at the beginning of 2019; however, he could not get to work until February 2020.

He worked with a group of Mosul youth to reconstruct the alley and paint the homes blue. The team also decorated the alley with ornaments and birdhouses.

The project took only two weeks to complete and the necessary financing did not exceed $1,200.

The 24-year-old chose the color blue believing it comforts the local population, inspired by Chefchaouen, the Blue Pearl of Morocco.

Omar Hamid, a resident of the Al-Mashahada neighborhood, which has come to be known in Mosul as the “blue neighborhood,” praised the alley’s transformation.

Journalist Mahmoud Al-Jemmas believes the people of Mosul are aspiring to rear a new generation of children away from wars and militancy, and the project is helping to transform the city as it emerges from a devastating war.