IRAQ'S SAD IRONY

BAGHDAD : The International Organization for Migration estimates that some 2.5 million people remain displaced in Iraq, even as more than 3.2 million have returned to their homes..

A sewing machine whirs away in another room in the ''school'' where Fawziya Azzawa sits surrounded by colorful fabric........

Threading beads onto a fishing line to make a sparkling ornament, Lamia Rahim is one of dozens of Iraqi women displaced by violence who have turned to handicrafts to support their families.

''It has been some time since we were displaced and my husband can't find work,'' the mother of four told AFP. ''It was down to me take care of the family.''

Rahim, 41, is part of local initiative set up to help families who fled jihadists and settled in a school in the city of Samarra, 100 kilometres of north of Baghdad.

In classrooms that have been turned into workshops, women in headscarves work away busily to make some vital income for their loved ones.

''A hundred and twenty five women have been trained in crafts, including making bead miniatures,'' said local radio presenter Iman Ahmad, 51, who set up the project a year ago.

The crafts the women make have already sold at some local fairs and  exhibitions and supporters regularly stop by to help bring some assistance.

Ahmad, says the  collective manages  to make around  $1,000  -a sum that is quickly divided up between all the members.

Among the head mementos the women make are miniatures of the Samarra's famed spiral minaret, the  famed Ishtar Gate that stood at the entrance to ancient Babylon, and even the Eiffel Tower.

''They help us to live,'' said Khawla Jarallah, who fled her village near the city of Tikrit when jihadists seized it three years back.