# @unfoundation on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/vOKsRDkGOd
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/6345149-unfoundation-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/e345a4927f.jpg
- **Posted:** 2014-11-10T13:45:20.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** United Nations Foundation (@unfoundation) — https://gondola.cc/unfoundation

## Caption

Akram still remembers the day he realized he had a special gift, that he wasn’t just like the others. “My fifth-grade teacher held up a paper with my handwriting and told the whole class I’d be a famous calligrapher,” the 50-year-old recalls, his almond eyes sparkling. Hunkered in his tent in Iraq’s Garmawa refugee camp, Akram describes how he fled his town of Tal Afar in July shortly after ISIS advanced and the Iraqi military retaliated with airstrikes. The most painful part of leaving, says Akram, was the work he left behind. He rolled up his best calligraphy and stored it in a bedroom bureau along with almost 30 years of self-taught artistry. Since moving to the camp, he’s been in a rut, unable to create. “I’m not in the right state of mind,” he says, wistfully describing his drawing station back home, anchored with a big oak table and chair. A few years ago, Akram’s son convinced him to make a Facebook page to display his work. Soon, aspiring students messaged him, seeking his advice and instruction, so he began offering calligraphy courses over Skype. He has over 20 students whom he refuses to charge. “This is all a gift,” he says. “Art should never be paid for.” Last month, he received a call from one of his students in Oman. He was distraught by the news that his beloved teacher was forced to flee everything he spent years building. “He told me he was going to visit,” says Akram. “I just laughed. Of course I didn’t believe him. Who would come here?” But one afternoon a week later, a large white jeep pulled up outside his tent. Akram thought it was another humanitarian group delivering some food or some fans. Then his student stepped out. “Me, my whole family… we were all stunned,” he says, gleefully scrolling through photographs of the meeting on his phone. “We just stood there, hugging and crying.” Photo and text UNHCR/ L. Bohn (@laurenontheroad)

#Regram: @unrefugees ---------------------------------------------------------------------- #IDPs #photooftheday #MiddleEast #UNHCR #refugees #man #family #instagood #bestoftheday #picoftheday #realpeople #picoftheday #instadaily #photojournalism #artist #Iraq #war #camp

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 797
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 14

## Tags

picoftheday, photooftheday, realpeople, unhcr, regram, instadaily, war, instagood, iraq, photojournalism, middleeast, idps, artist, camp, bestoftheday, man, family, refugees

---
Copyright (c) Gondola