The people of marshlands...in the garden of EdenPersecuted and driven out of the Iraqi marshes, where Sumerian used to live since Antiquity, the "Arabs of Marshlands" started to recover their territory drained by Saddam Hussein. After three decades, water is back and life too, as it was 6,000 years ago.

Photos by Xavier Rossi and Marc Roussel/LightMediation Text by Marc Roussel

2439-04: Unchanged since the Sumerian times (4000 BC), the Moodeef - the houses of marshlands' Arabs - are exclusively built with reeds.

Contact - Thierry Tinacci - LightMediation Photo Agency - +33 (0)6 61 80 57 21 email: thierry@lightmediation.com

2439-01: Unchanged since the Sumerian times (4000 BC), the Moodeef - the houses of marshlands'Arabs - are exclusively built with reeds.The Moodeef of Nature Iraq NGO.

2439-02: Unchanged since the Sumerian times (4000 BC), the Moodeef - the houses of marshlands'Arabs - are exclusively built with reeds.

2439-03: Unchanged since the Sumerian times (4000 BC), the Moodeef - the houses of marshlands'Arabs - are exclusively built with reeds.

2439-04: Unchanged since the Sumerian times (4000 BC), the Moodeef - the houses of marshlands'Arabs - are exclusively built with reeds.

2439-37: In the Central Marsh - Al Kasrah village near Al Chabaish - the Madans harvest reeds they then dry before building their houses (Moodeef). A "house" is usually made of several Moodeefs : reception, kitchen,sleeping rooms and sty.

2439-06: Unchanged since the Sumerian times (4000 BC), the Moodeef - the houses of marshlands'Arabs - are exclusively built with reeds.

2439-08: Unchanged since the Sumerian times (4000 BC), the Moodeef - the houses of marshlands'Arabs - are exclusively built with reeds.

2439-10: The Arabs of the Marshlands - called Madan - use since the Sumerian times such woodenpirogues coated with asphalt to carry reeds.

2439-13: The Arabs of the Marshlands - called Madan - use since the Sumerian times such woodenpirogues coated with asphalt to carry reeds.

2439-20: In the Central Marsh - Al Kasrah village near Al Chabaish - the Madans harvest reeds they then dry before building their houses (Moodeef). The marshes were progressively drained by Saddam Hussein at theend of the 70's. Here, on the left, a road that once was cutting off the water supply has been blown up in 2003, when the regime collapsed.

2439-14: In the Central Marsh - Al Kasrah village near Al Chabaish - the Madans harvest reeds they thendry before building their houses (Moodeef).

2439-16: In the Central Marsh - Al Kasrah village near Al Chabaish - the Madans harvest reeds they thendry before building their houses (Moodeef).

2439-20: In the Central Marsh - Al Kasrah village near Al Chabaish - the Madans harvest reeds they thendry before building their houses (Moodeef). The marshes were progressively drained by Saddam Hussein

2439-21: In the Central Marsh - Al Kasrah village near Al Chabaish - the Madans harvest reeds they thendry before building their houses (Moodeef).

2439-39: In the Central Marsh, Al Kasrah village near Al Chabaish. The marshes were progressively drained by Saddam Hussein at the end of the 70's. Here, background, a road that once was cutting off the watersupply has been blown up in 2003, when the regime collapsed.

2439-23: In the Central Marsh - Al Kasrah village near Al Chabaish - the Madans harvest reeds they thendry before building their houses (Moodeef).

2439-27: In the Central Marsh - Al Kasrah village near Al Chabaish - the Madans harvest reeds they thendry before building their houses (Moodeef).

2439-28: In the Central Marsh - Al Kasrah village near Al Chabaish - the Madans harvest reeds they thendry before building their houses (Moodeef).

2439-29: In the Central Marsh - Al Kasrah village near Al Chabaish - the Madans harvest reeds they thendry before building their houses (Moodeef).

2439-01: Unchanged since the Sumerian times (4000 BC), the Moodeef - the houses of marshlands' Arabs - are exclusively built with reeds. The Moodeef of Nature Iraq NGO.

2439-32: Fishing in the Al Fahud marshes. 2439-33: The Madan (Arabs of the marshlands) live only from fishing and hunting birds. Central Marshes,near Al Chabaish.

2439-35: The Sumerian domesticated the water buffalo 4000 years BC to use the meat and the milk.Today, the Madan still live with this unique animal.

2439-36:In the Central Marsh - Al Kasrah village near Al Chabaish - the Madans harvest reeds they thendry before building their houses (Moodeef).

2439-38: A shia family in his Moodeef (reed house) in the Al Bahar village, in Hammar Marshland (background, a picture of Ali, Mahomet's son in law and Saint of the Shias).

2439-37: In the Central Marsh - Al Kasrah village near Al Chabaish - the Madans harvest reeds they thendry before building their houses (Moodeef). A "house" is usually made of several Moodeefs : reception,

2439-38: A shia family in his Moodeef (reed house) in the Al Bahar village, in Hammar Marshland(background, a picture of Ali, Mahomet's son in law and Saint of the Shias).

2439-39: In the Central Marsh, Al Kasrah village near Al Chabaish. The marshes were progressivelydrained by Saddam Hussein at the end of the 70's. Here, background, a road that once was cutting off the

2439-40: The Madan (Arabs of the marshlands) live only from fishing and hunting birds. Al Kasrah villagein the Central Marshes, near Al Chabaish.

2439-44: The Arabs of the Marshlands - called Madan - use since the Sumerian times such wooden pirogues coated with asphalt to carry reeds. Fishing in the Al Fahud marshes.

2439-41: In the Central Marsh, Al Kasrah village near Al Chabaish. A Madan woman bakes bread. 2439-42: The Arabs of the Marshlands - called Madan - use since the Sumerian times such woodenpirogues coated with asphalt to carry reeds.

2439-44: The Arabs of the Marshlands - called Madan - use since the Sumerian times such woodenpirogues coated with asphalt to carry reeds. Fishing in the Al Fahud marshes.

2439-45: The Arabs of the Marshlands - called Madan - use since the Sumerian times such woodenpirogues coated with asphalt to carry reeds. Al Fahud Marshland

2439-51: A Madan woman braids dry reeds. Al Bahar village, south of the Euphrates river.

2439-47: The Arabs of the Marshlands - called Madan - use since the Sumerian times such woodenpirogues coated with asphalt to carry reeds. Al Fahud Marshland

2439-48: In the Central Marsh, Al Kasrah north of Al Chabaish. The marshes were progressively drainedby Saddam Hussein starting at the end of the 70's. The Madan were persecuted and driven out of the

2439-49: Flying over the Central Marsh, north of Al Chabaish, with two American helicopters. Themarshes were progressively drained by Saddam Hussein starting at the end of the 70's. The Madan were

2439-51: A Madan woman braids dry reeds. Al Bahar village, south of the Euphrates river.

2439-54: The Arabs of the Marshlands - called Madan - use since the Sumerian times such wooden pirogues coated with asphalt to carry reeds. Al Bahar village, on the right bank of Euphrates.

2439-53: In the Central Marsh, Al Kasrah north of Al Chabaish. The marshes were progressively drainedby Saddam Hussein starting at the end of the 70's. The Madan were persecuted and driven out of the

2439-54: The Arabs of the Marshlands - called Madan - use since the Sumerian times such woodenpirogues coated with asphalt to carry reeds. Al Bahar village, on the right bank of Euphrates.

2439-56: A young Shia girl in his Moodeef's kitchen (reed house) in the Al Bahar village. 2439-58: Fishing cat-fishes on the Euphrates river, between Al Bahar village and Al Chabaish.

2439-02: Unchanged since the Sumerian times (4000 BC), the Moodeef - the houses of marshlands' Arabs - are exclusively built with reeds.

2439-61: A shia family head in his Moodeef (reed house) in the Al Bahar village, in Hammar Marshland. 2439-63: Fishing in the Al Fahud marshes.

2439-65: A Madan coming back from fishing in Al Fahud Marshland. 2439-67: Friday afternoon in Al Fahud Marshlands : kids playing in the water.

2439-08: Unchanged since the Sumerian times (4000 BC), the Moodeef - the houses of marshlands' Arabs - are exclusively built with reeds.

2439-69: Al Fahud marshland. Close to the road Nasiriyah-Basrah, this part of marshes is particularlypolluted.

2439-70: Fishing in the Al Fahud marshes.

2439-71: Al Fahud marshland. Close to the road Nasiriyah-Basrah, this part of marshes is particularlyexposed to western "progress". Some Madan have changed their stick for engines they cover with cloth

2439-72: Unchanged since the Sumerian times (4000 BC), the Moodeef - the houses of marshlands'Arabs - are exclusively built with reeds. Hussein Sabri with his son in front of the Moodeef of Nature Iraq

2439-73: Unchanged since the Sumerian times (4000 BC), the Moodeef - the houses of marshlands'Arabs - are exclusively built with reeds. Hussein Sabri with his son in front of the Moodeef of Nature Iraq

2439-74: Unchanged since the Sumerian times (4000 BC), the Moodeef - the houses of marshlands'Arabs - are exclusively built with reeds.

2439-75: Unchanged since the Sumerian times (4000 BC), the Moodeef - the houses of marshlands'Arabs - are exclusively built with reeds. The Moodeef of Nature Iraq NGO.

2439-76: Baghdad. Part of the T-Walls built by the Americans to protect their facilities was diverted byIraqis to express their frustrations. Here, a daily life representation of the marshlands.

2439-49: Flying over the Central Marsh, north of Al Chabaish, with two American helicopters. The marshes were progressively drained by Saddam Hussein starting at the end of the 70's. The Madan were persecuted anddriven out of the marshes until 2003 because they were Shias and opposed to Saddam.

The people ofmarshlands -Text by MarcRoussel -

Considered since ancient times as theFertile Crescent and the Garden of Edendescribed in the Bible, the Iraqi marsheswere still covering, thirty years ago, 8,000square miles south of Iraq, at theconfluence of Tigris and Euphrates. Inthese marshes were living, 6,000 yearsago, the Sumerian people in reed houseswith such specific domes. They evendomesticated the water buffalo andinvented the cuneiform writing.One believes that the Sumerians neverleft the Marshlands. Their current progenyhas progressively been Islamized to thepoint they now form the main Shiiteminority in the south of modern Iraq.At the end of the 70's, half a millionpeople, called the Arabs of the marshes(or Madan), were living on tiny islands,mostly from fishing and bird hunting, fromBuffalos and reeds, exactly the way theirSumerian ancestors did. Their houses -Moodeefs - are still today made uniquelyof reeds with this specific shape of a halfellipse and whose front lookd like avegetal cathedral. Their boats are thesame kind of wooden pirogues coveredwith asphalt they find in open oil fields, asa testimony of the country's naturalwealth. Indeed, nothing seems to havechanged since Antiquity.Since the Iran-Iraq war, the Madanpopulation never stopped decreasing.After the fail of Shiite insurrection in Iraq at

the end of the Gulf war in 1991 and thedecision of Saddam Hussein to drain themarshes to force out the rebels, thePeople of marshlands nearly disappeared,forced to exile or killed by Saddam militias.In 2003, thanks to the fall of the regimeafter the second war, some "resistants"from the marshes broke down the leveesand the roads built by Saddam to blockthe water flood. Water started to comeback, and with water, life and people. Theprogressive rehabilitation of humid landswas supported by the Program of UnitedNations for Environment since 2004.Today, the PUNE talks about a quickrenewal of the Garden of Eden with nearly30% of the initial surface back to water.An Iraqi NGO, Nature Iraq, even decided,under initiative of his founder JassimAiasadi, to work on a life preservationprogram with the help of local PRT(Provincial Reconstruction Team) and, asa symbol of optimism, to create the firstIraqi National Park for tourism.Even if Al Chabaish, Al Kasrah or AlFahud are not exactly ready to hostmasses of tourists, the beauty of thescenery and the noble soul of people givethe idea of a future probably brighter thanthe last three decades.