Life in Baghdad

Photograph: Raghda Zaid
It is the contrast that shocks you. Plenty of Iraqi bloggers write about how life is lived in difficult circumstances but Baghdad Girl, the work of 13-year-old Raghda Zaid, is so normal it forcibly reminds you Iraqis have lives to lead like the rest of us. The colour scheme is pink and her interest is cats: pictures of her own cat Mimi ("I hope she will stay safe") and others from around the web – one wears a melon on its head. That's it. It is the sort of blog you could imagine any girl of her age keeping. The difference is she is keeping it in Baghdad. "After the election, we expect bombs, explosions, and killing," she writes in one update. "People in Baghdad are afraid to go to the election centres, some of the terrorist groups threaten that they will kill any one participate these election, even the candidates didn't put their names, only their parties and the parties leaders names were released."