Failaka Island - The Sad And Eerie Part

History of Failaka Island dates back to 3000 BC and it was once a Greek settlement - the island was then known as Ikaros. There are still Greek ruins on the island but they are currently closed to the general public and cannot be visited without a ministerial permission.

What can be seen without permission though is some of the villages of Failaka:


(Village and fishing nets seen from a pier, Failaka)


(One of many mosques, and 4x4s just arrived with the car ferry, Failaka)


(A large, and seemingly new, mosque, Failaka)


(The local fire rescue, parked inside the Failaka Heritage Village)

Failaka Island used to be the home of some 5,000 or so people. However, during the 1990-1991 Gulf War these people were replaced to the mainland of Kuwait and apparently many have never returned. The island was heavily destroyed during the Gulf War and although some of it has been rebuilt, much hasn't.

We walked out of the neat and well-maintained heritage village and only a few steps outside we saw the destruction:


(A man on a bicycle in front of an abandoned house, Failaka)


(Abandoned and destroyed - the sand has blown in - apparently this house was a shooting target)


(Young women on a day trip to Failaka Island look at one of the abandoned buildings)

Just outside the heritage village there is also an abandoned shopping complex:


(A former shopping complex, Failaka)


(A 7Up case left in front of the destroyed shopping complex)


(The back side of a former shop - a newspaper is left on the ground, the wall paper still hanging)


(A former corner shop in front of abandoned residential houses. The glass is shattered and electrical wires hanging from the roof)


(A peek inside the former corner shop. The refrigerator displays are still standing there)

There is a very eerie feeling to the place. Right next to the former shopping complex there are a couple of rows of attached houses that are abandoned but still standing. The windows are shattered and front doors gone but the structures are not destroyed:


(Abandoned houses, Failaka)


(Abandoned house, the stem of a palm tree lying outside)

As the front doors are either missing or open, we could peek into some of the houses:


(Interior of abandoned house, shattered glass and broken tiles, and mattresses lying on the floor)

Looking up to the first floor windows:


(A window frame with the curtain rod still hanging. In the back ground the fixture from the ceiling lamp and bullet holes in the back wall)



(Another window frame with a Pepsi case)

As we walked onto the street of the second row of houses we spotted a school book lying on the street, the wind turning its pages. I doubt that the book has been there for the past 19 years since the Gulf War ended but maybe it blew out of one of the houses - or someone went in to get it but then left it in the street. In either case it was a very sobering moment:


(A book left in the street, the wind turning its pages)

Just as I walked up to take a closer look (and picture) of the book, the wind blew again and turned the page to reveal a photo in the book of a hand holding a fetus. It was such a surreal moment. When I got home and looked back at the pictures it gave me goose bumps.


(Book in the street, wind turning the page to a photo of a fetus)

The wind kept turning the pages (I never touched the book) and on one of the pages the owner had drawn flowers and other stuff with a red pen (I guess it's a universal thing to draw in school books, too) - on the left hand side something is written in Arabic followed by a 'Good luck!!!!' That was so surreal, too.


(Drawings in a school book - and a 'Good luck!!)

Not far from the school book, a smaller book in Arabic was lying in the dust. I didn't touch that one either but it was clear that the pages were stiff - as they become when they have been wet from rain and then dried again by the sun:


(Small book in Arabic lying in the dust in front of an abandoned house)

There were other things to be found on the ground - like this lonely shoe that looked more like it had been lying there for the past 19 years:


(A shoe left behind - it's not to be overly dramatic but when I first saw it, I thought it looked like a face with two closed eyes, a nose (the shoe lace) and a mouth (the opening)


(A broken piece of Lego with shattered glass)


(An empty bullet casing (next to the yellow flower) in front of a broken 7Up bottle outside a house)


(An empty bullet casing amidst broken glass from soda bottles)


(A rusty kid's bike on top of a pile of rubble)


(Close-up of bullet holes in a wall)


(A small palm tree growing inside an abandoned house)


(Elsewhere the houses are much more destroyed)

I know that there have been talks of building a luxury resort on the island of Failaka - a place for the people from Kuwait City to come for the weekend. Maybe that would be good for the island, I don't know, but I hope that somehow they don't just erase all signs of the war or the island as it used to be. Traces of the war are hard to find in Kuwait City and they say that even the desert towards Iraq has been cleaned up completely. Surely, it is great that Kuwait has moved on and put the war behind but I also think that it is sobering to be reminded of the past and take care it does not happen again in the future.