Workshop in Kirkuk 22-23d of September

These pictures are from a three day workshop in Kirkuk.

The city is quite run down, with farm animals as a part of traffic. Being from the city of Kirkuk I have many fond memories of lovely friday evenings,but seeing the state of my "hometown" brought me back to reality.

The workshop was about gender and the different types of abuse on women. There was one woman among the participants, and she said "this is the way we live,and it's how it is" when asked about the treatment of women in the Kurdish iraqi society.

The workshop was held in the local offices of the communist party in Iraq. I found the pictures of Stalin and Lenin very amusing, these people look up to them as ideologies. It says something about the progress of Iraq.

All in all it was a good workshop, filled with very interesting men and woman.

The question is, will this stay with them as the ideology of Stalin does?

Lovely

The moon...

Under Kurdish skies (september 19th)

What can one do when it’s the weekend here, and no work to go to?
Well, one can do what every other fun loving Kurd/Iraqi does; indulge yourself in absolute fun!
My aunt, a few cousins and I decided to go bowling at the famous Suleymani Bowling center.
C decided to join us along with her sweet cousin. When we arrived, we were starving and decided to eat at the outside restaurant. The smell of shishia (water pipe) had me hypnotized from the moment I sat down and I decided to order the apple flavored one right after I’d finished my interesting pizza.

The weather was so lovely and the sky so mesmerizing that I almost wanted to cry from happiness. Imagine being able to move back to your homeland, live in absolute safety and have every facility a rich country like this is supposed to offer its citizens. I hope that day is close by.

Back to the lovely nargila: We were ofcourse sitting in the family section of the restaurant because single men shouldn’t be sitting amongst girls. I couldn’t care less; I just wanted to have my tea and nargila in peace while watching some wonderful songs they were displaying on the big screen TV. As we enjoyed, three sophisticated ladies among many families, we noticed that some were shocked at our behavior. I suppose women here don’t smoke in public but I couldn’t care less now either! We ordered a new flavor of nargila, the mint taste and it was even lovelier. We stayed until it was too cold to sit there without a jacket and marched away a little dizzy but also a bit triumphant. We showed them that women can claim just as much space as men!
/H

A new week in Sul.

Tuesday 16th of September 2008

On Saturday, after a relaxing and nice weekend, the first day at the office in Sul. started again. I have to admit that I was a bit annoyed by the fact that something was going on in the organization, and that somehow it was not to be shared with the newly arrived ones. Well, the organization has gone through a lot of changes the latest three months because of financial issues from the Norwegian ministry of foreign affairs. Though it is easy to forget the fact that Iraq is not defined as a developing country, after the US military operation in 2003, the whole world society has send a lot of aid here to improve the situation, besides Afghanistan off course. It is very typical that local NGOs in countries which are in a developing process and are very dependent on aid from foreign countries, to get into an organizational crisis when the aid is decreasing drastically. Some few hardworking and strong local Iraqi NGOs are getting financed through project proposals and project budgets. In a country such as Iraq where the civil society is not that strong compared to the private and the public sphere, and the public financing is very low to the strengthening of this sphere, such project funding will make the organizations existence dependent on foreign aid.

Anyway, before arriving Kurdistan, I did not have high expectations about the work here. Somehow I had drawn a mental picture of how the work in PDA would look like. After the first day, H and I decided to make our own plans about our work in the organization, afterwards get approval from the leaders and then start our work to obtain the plans, and at the same time, reach our objectives. Now we are in step 3; we drew a plan and got it approved by the leader, and now we are preparing some workshops. Today H had her first meeting with the people in the Cultural Development Desk; tomorrow I have with the Human Rights Desk (if they do not postponed it further more). To be continued.

The latest days there has been a horrifying sand storm all over the Kurdistan province; it is absolutely terrible. I have allergy against dust, and can reassure you that I have been feeling down a lot lately. This morning I woke up to the beautiful sight of a bloody pillow; the bleeding from my nose would not stop. My uncle who works in the hospital told me that this is a sign of a strong reaction on the dust created by the sand storm. I even left work earlier than usual. On my way home, I saw some people wearing white (dentist look alike) masks covering their mouth for the sake of protection against the sand and dust.

For some days ago some peshmerges got killed in Xaneqin. The conflict in Xaneqin between the KRG and the central Baghdad government is still not solved. They are fighting over the authoritative control over the Kirkuk province. They found some burned Korans in the toilets of a mosque in Suleimany, and this is a major subject now. I find these actions as very disrespectful; it really takes away the understanding and the tolerance among humans in such societies which are not homogenous neither when it comes to ethnicity nor religion. Such actions stimulate the hate engine to blossom up more conflicts and the uprising of new civil wars.

For each day passing by, my grandfather is getting sicker and sicker. Since yesterday his speaking ability has been dramatically reduced. For the two weeks I have been here, he even lost his walking ability. One of the leaders in PDA informed me that Alzheimer has increased a lot in Kurdistan. I wonder why.

C..

Hewler, the other Kurdistan?

Sunday 14th of September
What is different about Hewler?

2005: The autumn of 2005 I was attending a course that lasted for some months in Hewler. I did not like Hewler because I found the mentality of the inhabitants (as general and rude as it may seem) as very conservative and traditional. And when I paid a visit to Suleimany, I liked my city of birth much more.

2007: In November 2007 I came back to Hewler for the first time since 2005. I did not have high expectations before reaching the city because of bad experiences from my past. It had changed a lot; the buildings and the physical infrastructure. They were working really hard on improving the roads to the extent it can bear the high increase of cars since 2003 (SUVs, Mercedes, BMWs etc). It was more expensive than Suleimany, and by the first glance of the eye everything seemed to me as a bit improved. On that ground I expected that the mentality of people also had changed a bit since then. I observed that there were less women outside in the city center (in the area of the main bazaar close to the fortress Cita Del (Qala)) compared to the city center of Suleimany. Women were wearing much more covering clothing, and men were literally staring at women passing by much more than in Suleimany. My second judgment; the city looked nicer while the mentality and city culture was still the same as before. Off course these judgments are putting forward a black and white picture of the world though it is not my intention, but I do emphasis the point that these are all mine personal and subjective opinions as a private person.

2008: Last week was my third trip to Hewler, and I have to admit that I was a bit shocked. Even from the three days stay in November 2007, things had changed again. Usually I find places and direction easily (sense of direction), but this city is developing so fast I cannot follow the changes. The city council (or maybe KRG) has spent thousands of dollars on the environmental issues. They have invested in planting trees and other green(ish) plants to first of all improve the looks of the city, make use of the threes as protection against all the sand coming from the south part areas, and thirdly be able to get rid of some of the CO2 discharge. Still I was waiting to meet the same mentality as before. The people I met from Hewler in PDA`s offices, they are all very highly educated, open and social people. In the way I understood them; people who believed in equality between the two sexes, and human beings. And then one evening about 22.00 we went to the city centre (2 male, 4 female and a child) to get some sweets after having dinner (shirini in Kurdish). There were not one single female other than us there; even more children outside with their fathers, brothers, uncles (male leaders), but not a single female figure to find.

The questions are; has it really changed? What are the changes besides the improvement of the buildings?

As I told you, H and I hooked up with some friends from Norway, and we had a great time at B2B restaurant. And somehow together we came to the same conclusion; it is difficult to live in Kurdistan (no matter where in Kurdistan areas) but still not impossible. It really depends on what your “mission” is, what kind of ideologies you base your life on and what are the objectives of your life. To decide on whether these changes are positives or not, if they are nothing more than “building castles in the sky” is difficult to say. I do not believe that all of these changes are factors that will supply to a sustainable development, but at least they have created something that is floating in the air. Somehow it is a mixture of negative peace, strong capitalism and strong opportunism.

If I have to make a final conclusion about the changes and developments in Hewler, it will be the same conclusions about the changes and development in Suleimany. The city of Hewler looks nicer, and it is the capital of the Kurdistan province, therefore a lot of resources are send to that center of happenings. The Dubaization of Hewler is easier than to make it in Suleimany. To live in Hewler or Suleimany is basically the same. Everyone is working hard to make a living, to fill up the basic human needs and to be happy. The lack of electricity and water is the same, the political situation is still unstable, the school system is almost down, and capitalism is steering the mentality of people. The so called collectivism is controlling many social relations, the rationality of the people and the behavior of human interaction in the society, except when it comes to economical matters. The survival of the fittest (the one with most money is the strongest ideological foundation for many in this matter.

For me it does not matter any longer where I will live in Kurdistan, I just know one thing; I need an interesting and somehow a rewarding job to keep me going on here. I hope we, the next generation can contribute to a positive peace building.

Positive C..

On track?

Work ended on a good note. I think I am begining to be known as the joker in the office.
Today we had one of those typical Kurdish discussions about our own city and how superior it is to other cities. Regionalism is something to joke about, but I do enjoy to provoke smug Suleymanis.

I had my first meeting with the field officer of the Cultural Development desk.
Mr. Muwafaq as he is called, had a gathering with three trainers, one of them being me. Currently we are planning a workshop on gender and sexology. I was given the task of putting together a presentation about gender and the aspects of it which are constructed. I told Mr. M that my approches are academic and that I will include De Beauvoir and Kant, but this seemed to excite him more. The only really difficult task is now to translate ontology and feminism into Kurdish.
I will appreciate any help I can get.

I'm going out with the family for some night shopping. The stores are open past midnight so this is a normal ritual.
Give my love to the West.
/H

Monday

Yesterday I was finally informed on what my tasks will be in this organization. Basically I will write and hold seminars about gender and gender equality. I can also work with the other trainers in forming other workshops on cultural aspects. C and I will also have our own parallel schedule going on, as we will work with different departments/desks in this organization, such as women's rights, youth and human rights monitoring.
I believe that we will also travel around Kurdistan to see how the other offices of this organization works. It's all very exciting because I will basically set my own rules, and be in a position to make a few changes while I'm here. Time to see if my talk can be put into action.
/H

Civil Society Building

For more information about important civil socitey workers:

Nansen school: http://www.nansenskolen.no/
Norwegian Peace Centre: http://fredssenter.no/wb/
Nansen Dialog Network: http://www.nansen-dialog.net/
Norwegian People`s Aid: http://norskfolkehjelp.no/
People`s Development Association: http://www.xelik.com/
People`s Development Association (Freedom of Expression): http://www.cawyxelik.com

Last week

A beautilfu church in Ainkawa

You should see it at night..
The bugkiller and also friend from the organization
/H

The Erbil week in retrospect

The few days in the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan made me aware of the constant changes this part of Iraq is going through. Yes the infrastructure is non-existent and the peace is nothing but a negative one. Still I see some changes since I was last here in 2004.Business is booming, everyone and their mother owns either a restaurant or a construction company. At the least you’re a part owner of a clothing store. Materialism is the new religion, and I think it just might be the salvation for people. The fear I saw in people’s eyes four years ago, seems to be disappearing. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of poverty left and beggars as well as child labor haven’t fully vanished. In spite of this I still notice a slow change for the better. When I write better I mean in the material sense. Sometimes I am furious at this place. Why should there be beggars and children put into labor when there is so much oil that the ground is about to burst open with that good stuff?
I was very impressed with Erbil as we drove through its wide streets and shopped in its relatively big malls. Most of the people I met had nicer and newer phones than me. In fact, the people with the ugliest and oldest cellular phones were C, our American friend and I. Does this say anything about this nation’s obsession with THINGS? I have never seen so many electrical appliances in my life, and it’s all in a country where electricity is given about 10 hours a day. The social evolution isn’t keeping up with the technological one and we should be very alarmed. Is this perhaps where civil society building NGOs come in? I can’t answer that because even after two weeks here, I still haven’t been let into the organization’s work. What is it that these people do?

The employees at the organization’s office in Erbil were some of the nicest people I’ve met in Kurdistan so far. This week long course for the trainers of PDA’s cultural development desk was divided into different themes. Trainers came from all over the Kurdistan area.

The first day was about culture. It really gave me very little as there was a lot of generalizations as well as the way of teaching reminded me of the 1950s authoritarian lecturing.
The second day’s presentation was about tolerance and leadership. The most interesting part of this day was the lecturer’s views on September 11th terror attacks. Mr. H saw them as a reaction. For someone who’s been in this war torn country all his life, I was surprised that he was reflected enough to see the actions that propelled the war in Iraq from different sides. Maybe it’s just my prejudices about “locals” and how freely that can think.

The lecture on leadership and being innovative was a bit fishy though. Perhaps something was lost in translation but it was as though he categorized people into two groups; the ordinary and the special. The special people will lead and the ordinary will follow. I dare to say that Mr. H knows close to nothing about psychology or sociology.

The most interesting day was Tuesday, a full day of sexology including everything from female mutilation (circumcision) to a detailed run through of the essence of orgasm. Some of the trainers found it all a bit too “revealing”, but I enjoyed every second of this class which even consisted of full frontal pictures. Kurds need to be shocked!!!

The next day I can down with a serious case of diarrhea and didn’t attend the courses before 1. Pm. I guess today’s topic was on how to arrange a workshop but I couldn’t be bothered to care. By now I had grown a bit tired of the lousy accommodations and the way the management treats complaints. Imagine eating the EXACT same thing for lunch and dinner for five days. The hotel room was all right, but cramping up to 6 people in a space that’s made for three, just got too hard. Thank God C and I aren’t of the pickiest kind. When the course ended on Thursday I stayed behind in Erbil to visit an aunt.
Sunday is supposed to be the first day of work, in the office. It will be an interesting day. That’s all I can reveal for now.. /H

The expertise of the experts

Some of my relatives are trying to find water for their area in Xamza; the expert told them to dig in that exact spot, and guess what? The search was not successfull.

C..

I am not trying to trick you

What is wrong in the picture? I will be so nice that I will even give you the first clue. It has something to do with the street.. :-) I am really being serious now, what is wrong? It even

became a main subject for the conversation during our breakfeast in the Hotel Mondeal in Hewler.

C..

Xamza

Friday the 12th of Septmber- I went with my family to an area outside Suleimany called Xamza (cloose to Azmar mountains). Here we prepared the rice in the old fashion way; mmm, it tasted good..

C..

I have no title for this entry

I see that C is typing away and I am becoming the absent one. Tomorrow I'll have something better and more informative prepared, it's just not stored on this computer. All you need to know is that I am back in Suly and hanging around the PDA office bothering everyone with very little to do. Be safe dear people
ps: I miss Erbil
\H

Madonal :-)

Kurdish hamburger at Zagros Papula Restaurant.

C..

KodaK Moments

1st of September- View of Kurdistan`s mountains from the the air. 1st of September: Our arrival to Suleimany.
3rd of September- notice the eggs, they are too free :-) The menu in Zagros Papula Restaurant.
5th of September- the water barrels on the roof of the house. (They need to be filled up with water during the one hour water is supplied every third day).
8th of September- The view from our hotel window in Hewler- the Cita Del fortress in the back part of the picture.

C..

Stormy (bucket list) day

Wednesday 10th of September

Today, H and I woke up late. She was sick, having pain in the stomach (she has already described what kind of sickness she had in one of her own contributions; I do not need to explain any further). I was just lazy to be totally honest. We woke up about 11, and when H looked out of the window she informed me that it was rain storm at that time. Can you imagine, about 30 Celsius and rain storm? I went to the window immediately to open it, and smell the air. Wow, it was a long time back I smelled something like that. I cannot describe it; a smell of perfection. It was like an ocean; I could not stop inhaling because there were new scents to discover. Have you seen the movie, or read the novel, Perfume? The fragrance the man produced in the novel made everyone in a city reach a state of mind, can almost be described as Nirvana. It was the same for me.

When we arrived the office in Ainkawa, everyone was asking about the sick girl, if she was ok etc. Talk about a collective society. After just attending one hour lecture at PDA, they said that lectures the rest of day were cancelled. We decided to pay a friend a visit in Ainkawa.
In the evening time, about 20.00 we were picked up at our hotel by some friends from Norway. A female friend, her husband, a male friend, H and I. The female friend was studying at the same university as H (UIO- University of Oslo- http://www.uio.no/), while the male friend was studying at a University college (Høgskolen I Oslo- http://www.hio.no/). All four of us, except the female friend`s husband, have some things in common; born in Kurdistan, lived in Norway for many years, and now returned back to our place of birth. I felt mighty proud of us sitting in the cafè resaturant 2B2. Who could ever imagine?

Our female friend moved back here for one year ago, got married to a local Kurd man and is teacher in English. We had a very interesting conversation with her. She informed us (as I knew from before) that those coming into Iraq for the purpose of working are getting twice the amount income as her. She has a higher education than some of the other teachers, and a Norwegian citizenship, and still gets paid as a local. The question is naturally, why? Just because of the basic reason, she is born her and considered as a local inhabitant. And though she has an undergraduate education in English language from UIO, it is not considered as good as the Americans or Englishmen or those with English as their mother tongue. So keep in mind that on this side she is looked upon as a local inhabitant. On the other side, the persons with a higher education diploma in Iraq have a right of 500 usd for serving the country. She is not entitled for this payment either. Why? The only reasons are because she is Norwegian and has an education from Norway. On this side she is considered as a foreigner. It is really motivating the young and newly educated persons like to move back to this country and serve it for a while, right? Should they not change such a policy when the country is in desperate need of expertise? Or am I just d… wrong?

As I have always claimed and will always do; Once a foreigner, always a foreigner.

I think it was an ode day. So much familiar faces, at the same time, such a strange day to experience a smell I have not smelled since way back in the year of 2005. It was like the movie I saw today at our friend`s home in Ainkawa, Bucket list with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholsen. They are acting as two old men (which they also are L), both with cancer and about to die. They make a bucket list over everything they want to do and experience before dying. I had such a day, without neither expecting it nor planning for it.

Thanks for my stormy bucket list, C- the proud foreigner- always and forever.

”Do you believe in gender?”

Tuesday 9th of September

Today we had a very interesting lecture. A woman working in the UN (do not remember which part) gave us a lecture in sexology. It was interesting for me because I have not been attending such a detailed lecture or seminar about sex, gender, circumcision and equality between women and men in present context of Kurdistan.

The lecture was divided into 5 parts.
Sexuality, the history of sexuality in Europe and important research contribution within this field.
The female sex organs, its mechanism, function and circumcision.
The male sex organs, its mechanisms, functions and circumcision.
The cooperation female and male sex organs in the process of interaction, its mechanisms and functions.
Gender, gender roles and sexuality.

She gave us some basic information (important/not important) to know:
The inhabitant number of Kurdistan region (excluded the Kirkuk province and the places around there which are not under the authority of KRG- Kurdistan Regional Government- www.krg.org) is approximately 3.079.916 million. About 64% under the age of 60 and about the age of 15 years are sexually active. About 62% of the female inhabitants have been circumcised, and it is still ongoing.

Here I will just present some short question and claims the lecturer was going through the lecture: (it is not presented in either a logical or chronological way)
- The lecturer was claiming that Kurdistan is in the agricultural era, about 200 years before the modernism.
- One of the reasons why it was normal with (zhyn ba zhyn) (giving a daughter to one family- in return- getting one of their daughters) was because of the mentality of they are getting something from me, than I have to get something in return. (paying for marriages).
- God is perfect. And when he is perfect, and his creations are perfect, we do we want to damage and change that perfection by circumcising the woman. Islam does not approve it, then it must be cultural development, or maybe because men get circumcised too.
- Sex should be gender or gender should be sex? Liz Stanley, 1984.
- Circumcision of women makes the women not feel any lust for sex, will get pain and will not enjoy sexual intercourse with a male partner. Therefore she will also not feel love towards that same partner (because he is the source of pain every time they have a sexual intercourse).

Well, you should have been there; it was such a revolutionary lecture (at least in the Kurdistani context). I asked her if she believe in feminism, and the feminist theories; “Yes, here it is most needed. But maybe not Europe, we are in a different stage than them.”

The title of this contribution is “Do you believe in gender?” For some days ago on the way back to the hotel we live in, Mondeal Hotel in Hewler, the other PDA participants (we were six passengers beside the driver- very common here J) was talking about equality between men and women. And one of the girls was making fun of one of the boys, saying something; do as you preach. After that line, she said; “Don`t you believe in gender?”

Always a pleasure, gentlewoman Miss C.

PS: Everything I have written above is a shortening of the lecture, I hope nobody will feel insulted in any ways at all.

LATE UPDATE

Sunday 7th of September

Today we were picked up by the driver an hour later than expected. I woke up at 5am, and waited until 7am. The drive to Hewler took us about 3 hours (much more than normal time). After we left Suleimany we arrived a small quarter in the end of the city called Tasloja; here our car broke down. We were 4 girls sitting in the car, while the driver was trying to fix whatever was wrong with the car. Not one single person stopped to help us out; what has happened to this heartless city? Everyone was just staring at us. At the end a NPA car stopped. After a delay of 45 minutes, we continued the drive.

Almost half of the time I was sleeping. The others made fun of me. What is it with me and sleeping in vehicles? And trust me; it is very incredible that someone manages to sleep during a drive in the Kurdistan area. All of the streets and roads are full of bumps, holes, swings and big holes all of the sudden occurring in the mid of the road.

This first day, I have to admit, was boring. We are suppose to attend this course the rest of this weeks. I hope it gets better.

Sleepy C...
PS: Really sorry for a very late update!

In the name of God

I'm not feeling so wonderful today. The ever so lovely diarrhea has finally caught up with me.
I've had a few nice days though. I made some friends in Hawler and they took it upon themselves to show C and I around Ainkawa.
I must say it's a very interesting part of Hawler. Very few people will speak Kurdish to you, but their Arabic is fluent. You see very few Kurdish flags, but the Iraqi one is very much present in every store and restaurant. One of my friends told me about bars and clubs in Ainkawa where muslims aren't allowed.
M, a friend who is a teacher in the most exclusive private schools here in Hawler told me that he is suprised at the christians in Ainkawa for not wanting to identify with Kurds and Kurdistan. He is a christian himself.
I told him that I knew very little about this and that's true.
Hawler all in all is a very interesting city. The religious symbols are very visible. The mosques impress me, as well as the beautiful churches. How long will this peace last? And is there really a religious coexistence here in Hawler or are we fooling ourselves. Can christians really live side by side with muslims and vica verca?
H

No comment

A victim of Cûtyar's foot.

Outsider

We had another gruesome day of presentations. They made about 10 of us sit and listen to their theories from 08.30 untill 4.30 pm. The only interesting part for me was the critique made against Kurdish use of language and the litterature published in Kurdistan today.
The sad thing about the whole day is that C and I were excluded from a certain homework given to the others. I still don't feel a part of this organization. They are too aware of the fact that I'm an observer, that I am not working directly for this Kurdish organization but sent from another one in Norway to find out whether PDA is works towards building a civil society or not./H

Good night

It takes ages to upload pictures with this Kurdistan connection so I just leave you with this picture of a wonderful mosque. Hawler is beautiful, God bless the people in it. Kurds, turkumens,asuris,arabs,americans and just everyone. Lovely city and lovely people. /H

Hawler

Ministrey of Justice

The "Good" life

Took this from the car. It's the hotel where only hot shots of Kurdistan stay. You can get arrested for approaching the hotel. Believe me..

King of the Castle (S)

“That`s the reason why I`m king of the castle, that`s the reason why I`m ….?”

I really find it amusing how the people here all fight for one same throne, becoming the king of the castle. I see stones, trees, trucks, sand, construction workers and wires all over the place, all over Suleimany. For three years ago I was telling people that the development in Kurdistan is amazing, and that there is room for positive changes. The efforts of building the country’s institutions and the infrastructure may seem very impressive and a sign of significant positive changes. After travelling back some few times since the year of 2005 I realized I have also been blinded by all the bling blings. Recently I have understood that these new amazing and beautiful buildings, new public offices, private companies and home for families, are mostly something called “window dressing”. These beautiful changes are all a facade the people incorporate in their way of living. They make it the foundation of their needs, and thereby they fool themselves to believe that they become happy based on their new beautiful buildings. These buildings are empty institutions, or maybe the content of the institutions are the same as before. When you change the content of the soup, then the soup will become another soup. By only changing the pot you make the soup in, will not change the taste of the soup, because the content is still the same.

Yes, it is true. There have been many unimaginable changes since the Baath regime was taken off their power in 2003. But when I speak with my relatives and with those whom I have received their opinions about the changes in Kurdistan, and listen to the way they say, the words they use, it all show signs of negative development. This something called for “negative peace”. There is not a war going on here, so why is it still so bad? It is because of this silent, not understandable and maybe even to the extent of unchangeable negative peace.

Input- process- output
This is the recipe for everything. What are the inputs, how is the processing taking place, and what are the outputs?
Goal: Let us pretend that the aim is to build democracy in Iraq and Kurdistan.
Input: We put stone, wires, and trees in.
Process: Building and never ending building.
Output: Beautiful new buildings.
Bip bip bip, warning warning: what happened to democracy?

Maybe for some others who analyze the development here I may seem a bit negative, but this negativism is also a bit realistic because the people here have jumped over the grounding of their house building (building a peaceful and democratic Iraq and Kurdistan). They have forgotten to build a strong essential foundation for their house, and the big, bad wolf will be able to blow it down sooner or later. And even now we have an economical decline going on. I am just afraid for the country, nothing else. But I will never give up the hope, never in this life time.

Have you heard about these funny expressions before? I will write about some few here just to show a bit of the changes going on here. Still these words are not new, but they became everyday expressions in the Kurdish language after the year of 2003.

Dafterek: Daftarek literally speaking means a book, but it is an expression for the amount of 10 000 usd. The other day I overheard a couple talking about buying a house, and the lady said: “well, 16 dafter is nothing.” I almost got a heart attack by the piece of pizza stuck in my hals. 160 000 usd is nothing? Well, I am a girl living in one of the worlds` richest countries, but I would never say that 16 dafterek is nothing. I wonder when it is enough for this lady, and somehow I feel a bit sorry for whom ever dealing with her.

Gala: Gala literally speaking means a leaf, but it is an expression of 100 usd. Funny, right? :-)

And somehow they give names for cars and mobile phones. The latest update on that front is the new Hindi look alike motor bicycles with a wagon for two; they call it for Karim Kaban. That poor old man, he does not deserve to get his name trashy like that.

The latest three days it was 43 Celcius here, very warm. It is difficult to sleep at night time because it is about 27 in night time, and without any electricity, we do not have air conditioner. We have electricity from 24.00 in the night until 4.30 am, and then from 13.30 until 14.30. Later it comes back again, about 17.00 until 24.00 (sometimes less), but during these hours you have to pay attention to if it is public electricity or electricity from private local community generators, and you have to fix the electric system according to these changes. One day I was counting how many times my uncle changed the wire to fit the changes based to whom is providing in the electricity; he had to do it about 20 times. It is madness.

And water supply issues are among the top 10 everyday problems people have to deal with. Last year the ground water level in Kurdistan area (at least Suleimany) was dramatically decreasing to the extent it became illegal to dig more water wells in private backyards. Therefore people have to trust in public water supply, and trust me it is crassssyyyy. Every 3 or 4 day you get 2 hours water. It means that the water barrels on the roof on every house have to be filled up. The last day and a half, my aunt`s family had to buy a barrel of water, it cost 30 000 Iraqi dinars (it is about 25 usd). The people here are boiling because of the heat, there is no electricity to put on the air condition, and then they do not have water to cool down a bit either. What are the solutions? What kind of help is these dafterek of dollars, when you do not have any electricity to buy?

Anyway, we have not started to work in PDA yet. Tomorrow we are travelling to Hewler (Erbil). PDA is arranging a seminar and workshop about cultural development. I am excited. I hope it is going to be interesting, that the seminar is valuable for my knowledge production.
I hope the people realize that they have to fight for their life in a different way than the way that is taken place now, the ongoing building of castles in the sky. We do not have a monarchy here, so why fight for a non-existing title, king of the castle?

To be continued, miss C…..

Sar Chinar

/H

September 7th

Well...I sat in the garden from 05.55 untill 07.00, waiting to be picked up.
When the car finally arrived, I didn't exactly meet the happiest faces in the world. I later found out that they had a hard time finding my house. (I do have a phone you know!)

The drive to Hawler (Erbil) was tiering,and also nervewrecking as the driver did not believe in respecting any speed limits whatsoever. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the first car that picked me up broke down right before the first check point and we stood there in the heat for 45 minutes untill a new car came to our "rescue".

As soon as we arrived at the organization's head quarter in Hawler (ainkawa), we were put into a lecture room where my favourite person in PDA, kak Soran held an ever so informative 4 hour (!!) lecture on culture.
I'm posting from a very wonderful hotel in Ainkawa. I can stand the heat because here I have 24 hour access to water and electricity./H

September 3rd

I am aware that my last entry doesn’t look like much and it’s not very descriptive. I apologize for that, I was at the office and in a hurry to get out of there as I had the day off. The thing about Kurdistan is that they go out of their way (unconsciously) to make you feel out of place. I feel out of place as I still haven’t started work, and I was just there to check my e-mails. While I was typing away with my friends, I felt that my new colleagues were very hard at work planning this fall and I was just taking up space. If this was in Europe, I’d claim my place as naturally as I would claim my own hand. It’s different here. I just feel out of place, and I can’t help it. I might feel like an outsider at work, but I have made a habit of fighting for my own space otherwise. When we shop, I’m decisive and don’t take shit from the locals! I argue with greedy taxi drivers, and I schlep around like a true Kurdish woman.

After finishing my e-mails and online work, C and I left to do some shopping. The pillows at my uncle’s house are very hard and kill my neck so I went to the ever so famous Zagros to buy a nice head support. Lunch was in order post the pillow-shopping, and let’s just say that a Kurdish cheeseburger has nothing to do with regular cheeseburgers. Kurdistan keeps me entertained at least. C and I were walking down “cadêy sahôl”, the snow-street as it’s called, and felt slightly fatigued from the heat. We decided to rest on a bench. I love looking around and staring at things, something that’s not very normal for girls here. Staring aimlessly at cars, I discovered a blond man staring back at me. I was startled and before I knew it the American was waving at me from his car. I politely waved back and though that perhaps I’ll never adapt to the conservative Middle Eastern culture.

Thursday I am going to the authorities to get my temporary “green card”. Every month we “foreigners” have to apply to stay here, pay an amount of money and have our picture taken just to be able to exist in Kurdistan. If I’m joking? No I am completely serious. The electricity here is nonexistent and the fasting are going through a living hell. The disputes over Khaneqin have allegedly made Baghdad reduce Suleymania’s electricity. We watch television every day and I have yet to see anyone pursue this issue and ask a politician about the situation. The other day I watched a local channel financed by the communists, and they reported on the filth piling up in the less wealthy areas. What exactly happened to our old peshmargas who risked their lives for the wellbeing of Kurds? Are they the ones driving around in exclusive cars and sporting the latest in designer artillery? Did they leave the 70’s Kalashnikovs for the dollars of the 21st century?
I can’t help but think about Ibrahim Xeyat as he sings “Rêbwari yêk reyÎn, cîya nabinawa” (We are the travelers of the same road, we shall never part). Did our heroes leave us after all?


Fridays and Saturdays are the weekends here. This means that the first workday is Sunday. Sunday I’ll be picked up at 6.am to leave for Erbil. The organization has arranged a week long training course for the employees in the Cultural Development desk at PDA.
I finally got to meet my boss; Mr. M. who’s title is desk manager. He answers to Mrs. D, who is the coordinator who again answers to Mr. S who can be best described as the boss of PDA. I thought I’d bore you with information about the organization’s hierarchy. The cultural development desk specializes in workshops on gender relations, the patriarchal society of Kurds and regular publications in newspapers as well as radio shows about gender inequality. This is what I’m told so far, but I won’t claim anything until I actually work with them./H

Hot

I am writing to you live from Suly. It's the hottest it's been in years. According to locals last September they had to wear jackets, and it's about 40 C.
Every part of the tripe went smoothly. I was surprised that the flight to Kurdistan wasn't delayed. As I exited the plane I realised the excruciating heat when it met me like a slap in the face. I was happy!
The happiness slowly ended when they harassed me at the passport check. They confiscated my passport, doubting that it was real (!!) and started asking me questions about me to check if it coincides with the information inside the passport. I was horrified, angry and already sick of this state they call Kurdistan. Patience is virtue..

Tuesday we had a meeting with our local bosses, and I got to vent to her. Our meeting with the organization went smoothly, there are some wonderful people here and I can't wait to start working.
My first real working day is on Sunday (that's when the week starts here), and it's going to be in Arbil. Our local offices is in Ainkawa (for those of you who know Kurdistan know that Ainkawa rules!), and I am very excited to start my week there. I will smother you all in pictures.
The one I have so far is the view from my uncle's balcony.
Don't let the politicians fool you and tell you that Kurdistan is allright, it's not. It needs us.
Peace out
/H

Berlin

We arrived later then expected (ofcourse!!),and I must say that Berlin is a quiet city. We saw very little people,very little action and funky food.

We dropped off our luggage,and headed very quickly outside again so we'd get to get see some of Berlin before leaving for the airport again at 3.am.
We made it to Friedrich platz ( I think that's what it's called) and started to look for places to eat. We were told that this would be a very busy and happening street. It was NOT!












What happened next is for our memories only. Upon asking help from a stranger, we made a new and very intriguing friend. Berlin became a little more interesting..

/H
ps: C has started blogging YEY!

Multiple waves

Although this is not my first trip to Kurdistan, I still feel hit by a shock wave. Compared to the first few times, I should not even dare to describe this time as a shock. If it is not suitable to call it a shock wave, then the closest sentence to describe my emotions nowadays is: a wave of known, but unwelcomed emotions. The first time I travelled to Iraqi Kurdistan alone, I found a type of method to calm myself down every time I felt insecure or invaded by negative, pessimistic or non-rational and frightening thoughts; all of these thoughts are as subjective as can be, it is very wrong of me to claim that all Kurds living in Kurdistan thinks like me or even possesses the same thoughts as me. My method is to always think of positive things, to accept this reality that the inhabitants have to deal with every single day, and be grateful for everything I have in my life in Norway. And it actually makes my staying in Kurdistan easier for every time I just declare myself of being lucky.

Let us go back a few days to get an overall picture of the trip back to Suleimany (As Sulaymaniyah ). We met at Gardermoen airport (Oslo, Norway) at 3 pm Sunday the 31st of August. At the airport, H met a girl she knew. The very first familiar face on our journey. After a bit delayed airplane, we arrived Berlin-Tegel airport (Berlin, Germany) at almost 8.pm. Even in this airplane, one of the flight assistants were an old friend of H. The second familiar person. We booked into the hotel, and went out to find someplace to eat. As we were looking for Alexander platz, we stopped a person and asked for direction. This person was a man, a Swedish man, also a tourist and as unknown in Berlin as us. Still we found this person as someone from back home (a Scandinavian neighbor). At 3.30 am, the 1st of September we were in the airport again, and started to check in for the next flight from Berlin to Suleimany. Our biggest concern at this moment was the luggage. Would we pass the weight control knowing we had approximately 10-15 kilos too much? During 90% of the flight I was sleeping, and I think H too. It was the most relaxing trip or travelling route to Iraqi Kurdistan ever. By the way, if you wonder which airplane company we used from Europe to Iraqi Kurdistan was Zozik Air, http://www.zozik-air.com/.

I remember last week I was sitting on a bus in Norway, and thinking how warm 40 Celsius must feel like. As you may know, in Norway we have summers best described as “green winters” (our project coordinator in Norwegian Peace Center used this term to describe the Norwegian summer). During the landing process of the airplane in Suleimany airport (Bakrajoo), I was thinking the same thought. Ironically, during the whole flight both H and I were a bit cold. At the same time, while watching out from the airplane window above the beautiful mountains surrounding Suleimany, knowing that we would be hit by a heat wave in the very moment stepping out of the airplane door and facing the Kurdistani environment, made me smile. A very brief moment before leaving the airplane, I stopped at this door opening, just to remind myself of why I came to Kurdistan and for what. The second step out of the door, the heat wave hit me, and I must admit I lost my breath for some few seconds. It was fantastic. I was ready to embrace what every that was to be shared with me. My waves of self declarations as being lucky made me happy.

The Suleimany International airport buss drove us to the main building. At the passport control I got some critique from the controller that I should have changed my passport to the new passports with international strip codes. I was polite and said that firstly it is accepted worldwide and it has a date of expire, and secondly, that they are very expensive in Norway (at least for me as student). Our luggage arrived punctually, and we met our relatives outside the airport. The visitors without any tickets are not allowed to enter this airport area because of security issues; one will meet hundreds of safety control stations and posts in Iraq. Some may complain about these control stations, but I am so happy for having them; it would be even more unsafe without them checking and supervising people entering and exiting the country.

Yesterday, munday 1st of September, was the first day of ramazan, (Ramadan- the fasting month in Islam), and therefore all of my relatives (all Muslims) were not eating at the time I arrived home. I ate something easy to digest, so I will be on the safe side, and not be hit by a wave of sickness. And at the same time, it is much nicer to eat dinner with the rest of the family. I am not an expert in Islam, but I think the basic idea of Ramadan is to fast from sunrise to sundown (no eating, drinking, smoking , no sexual interactions etc.)This is for appreciating all the food Allah has given us, and secondly, remind ourselves of those whom does not have as easy access to food and beverage as us. Between these hours the thoughts should be first and foremost be devoted to Allah and Allah`s goodness. I have heard that Cejn (Eid- celebrating the end of Ramadan with a special day- approximately 30 days after the starting day) is nice in Kurdistan, so I look forward to spend my very first Cejin here. I wish all Muslims around the world a good Ramadan month.

I put my old Sana Tel telephone sim card in the phone, and it worked. And even a greater surprise, the two main telephone companies Sana Tel and Asia Cell has got into contract with each other and therefore it is possible to call from a Sana Tel to an Asia Cell number. Imagine in Norway that it would not be possible to call from a Telenor number to Netcom, and that only in Stavanger Telenor is functioning in and Netcom in Bergen. How would you get in touch of someone based on these conditions if you had a Telenor number in Stavanger (because that is the only phone company working in this city), and you want to call someone in Bergen with a Netcom number?

This morning, Tuesday the 2nd of September, we arranged with both NPA (Norwegian People`s Aid) and PDA (People`s Development Association) to meet them for the first time in Suleimany. The main directors welcomed us warmly, and we had a general meeting with firstly NPA, and thereinafter, PDA. It was very exciting. We got a lot of valuable information for our work at PDA, and got to know the organization a bit more, the building they are staying in and some of the other workers. Anyway, we stayed with them until almost 2 pm, and decided to go home.

This was basically it for now, but I would like to end this session with a rather sad finishing. My grandfather (my mother`s father) is very sick, and I am living at his place. One can never know when a person will die even as sick as he is at this moment, but I wish that he will die peacefully. I feel so sorry for him, and so helpless. There is nothing I can do for him. He has always been a very calm and gentle man, now almost like a shrinked peach about to give in and surrender to his own destiny. I would like to show greatness towards my uncle and his wife (with their own two children) taking care of him. You (uncle and grandfather) will always have my respect. The waves of shocks, emotions, happy and sad feelings, and facing contradictory waves all over the place, will be much easier to handle in some few days.

Arnold and now I (C): I`ll be back….