Volunteers search rubble to save Mosul university

MOSUL, Iraq - Leaning on his crutch, Nizar picks through the rubble where the main building of Mosul University used to be, looking for whatever administrative documents can still be salvaged.

He is part of a unit of four volunteers working relentlessly to bring the university back to life three months after the damage it suffered during an Iraqi offensive against the Islamic State terror group.

The sprawling campus on the now retaken eastern side of Mosul was extensively destroyed because it had been used as a major headquarters by the jihadists who took over the city in June 2014.

"This is all that's left here," said Nizar, who is in his 20s, after clambering through a hole into a gutted room that used to be the office where student cards were printed.

Iraqi forces launched a massive offensive in October to retake the country's second city from the jihadists and in January fully secured the eastern side, where the university is located.

Nizar and his three friends are going room-to-room, one floor after another, turning every piece of debris to find records and permits that could make resuming a university year easier.

"After the liberation, we came here and assessed the damage," said Hamdoon, another volunteer.

"Twelve buildings were completely leveled, the other buildings had damage ranging between five and 20 percent, most of it caused by arson," he said. "Also, some were booby-trapped and have now been cleared."

The University of Mosul, which was established in the 1960s, was considered one of the best universities in the region and the country's second learning center behind Baghdad University.

"The university is the life blood of Mosul ... today it needs support," said Hamdoon.

The task is huge and volunteers are getting limited help because the campus, which spreads along the Tigris, is still dangerously close to the areas where fighting is ongoing.

In the meantime, Nizar, who was wounded by shrapnel from an explosion during fighting for the city, and his friends dust every document they can retrieve, examine it and file it in cardboard boxes to be stored in a guarded room.

"Their work is very useful, they have found documents that are like treasures to us but unfortunately (IS) has burned many of our archives," a university official who would not give his name said.

(China Daily USA 04/27/2017 page10)