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