Volunteer Campaign Gives Erbil a Cleaner, More Colorful Look

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - Along Erbil's busy 120-Meter Road, one of the main routes into the Kurdistan Region's capital, plain and defaced concrete walls are being turned into colorful displays of the Kurdistan flag, Peshmerga imagery and cultural artwork as part of a volunteer campaign aimed at giving the city a cleaner and more orderly appearance.

The work is being carried out by the Maple Tree Organization through its "Rengalle", or Colorful Campaign in English, an initiative launched two years ago to remove inappropriate writing, unauthorized advertisements and phone numbers from public walls and replace them with artwork.

Kurdistan24 correspondent Azar Farooq, reporting Saturday from an underpass along the Kirkuk-Erbil route, said the location was deliberately being improved because it is highly visible to people entering Erbil.

Volunteers were painting the underpass walls with images associated with Kurdistan while removing writing and advertisements that had accumulated on the surfaces.

Hakar Mohammed, head of the Maple Tree Organization, told Kurdistan24 that the campaign began with a straightforward objective: reclaiming public walls from graffiti and informal advertising.

"We launched the campaign with the aim of removing inappropriate writings and slogans placed on the walls of public places," Mohammed said.

In their place, the organization paints the Kurdistan flag, images of the Peshmerga, national symbols and other artistic, environmental and cultural themes.

The campaign has gradually expanded across the capital.

Mohammed said the organization has now worked on four underpasses, more than 20 schools and walls at several other locations.

Residents also contact the group when they identify highly visible places covered with inappropriate writing or advertisements. Depending on available resources and volunteers, the organization visits those locations and repaints them.

One of the campaign's main concerns is the widespread practice of writing commercial advertisements and mobile phone numbers directly onto walls, trees, stones and other public surfaces.

Mohammed said volunteers have erased such advertisements more than 40,000 times.

He argued that businesses and individuals have other ways to promote their services and should not treat every public wall as advertising space.

"There are proper places where advertisements can be placed," he said, pointing to social media as one alternative.

For the organization, keeping walls clear of random advertisements is as important as the paintings that replace them.

The aim is to create public spaces that appear maintained rather than neglected, particularly on major roads, around schools and at underpasses seen by large numbers of residents and visitors.

The current work on the 120-Meter Road is being carried out in coordination with Municipality 5 and the Erbil Municipality Presidency.

Mohammed said municipal authorities provide logistical assistance while the organization supplies volunteers who carry out the painting.

Because the participants work voluntarily and have other jobs during the week, most projects are scheduled for Fridays and Saturdays.

"We will continue for as long as we are able," Mohammed said.

The current initiative is part of a broader pattern of cooperation between the Maple Tree Organization and Erbil's municipal authorities.

In September, the Sixth Municipal Directorate and the organization launched a school beautification and environmental-awareness campaign ahead of the academic year.

That project focused on removing graffiti and inappropriate writing from school walls and doors, repainting damaged surfaces and adding new artwork.

At Amid Primary School in Erbil's Newroz neighborhood, teams restored parts of the building and added imagery including the Kurdistan flag.

The school campaign was also designed to encourage students to think of classrooms, courtyards and surrounding areas as shared spaces that should be protected and kept clean.

Municipal authorities said at the time that they intended to expand the initiative to additional schools and continue environmental-awareness activities throughout the academic year.

Taken together, the work at schools, underpasses and major roads reflects an effort in the Kurdistan Region's capital to improve the everyday appearance of the urban environment through relatively small but highly visible interventions.

Instead of major construction projects, the Colorful Campaign concentrates on surfaces people encounter daily: the wall beside a road, a school entrance or the concrete beneath an underpass.

The choice of artwork also gives the project a distinct local identity.

Mohammed said the Kurdistan flag and images of the Peshmerga feature prominently because the organization views them as symbols closely connected to Kurdistan. Environmental and cultural subjects are also incorporated into the murals.

Farooq reported that similar paintings can now be seen at more than 20 schools, while the latest work continues beneath the underpass connecting the Kirkuk-Erbil route with the 120-Meter Road.

The volunteers' message to the public is equally central to the project: once a wall has been restored and painted, do not cover it again with spray paint, advertisements or informal writing.

For a campaign built largely on volunteer labor, maintaining the improvements is part of making the work sustainable.

The result is an effort to give parts of Erbil a neater, more visually coherent appearance while encouraging greater respect for public spaces.

For residents and visitors entering the capital, the walls along major routes are increasingly becoming part of that changing cityscape, not as places for scattered phone numbers and slogans, but as carefully painted surfaces carrying art, cultural imagery and the colors of Kurdistan.