Fire at Hotel Soma

Around 11pm Ben came home and I asked him if he wanted to play the trivia game Alex, Lydia and I had devised. Instead of answering my question he said there was a huge fire and he hoped it wasn't our office building. I told Lydia (the photographer) and naturally she wanted to go find it. So with her camera in hand Alex, Lydia and I set off towards the smoke. We soon found that it was not our office building but a hotel just a few hundred feet away.

Hotel Soma has 62 rooms and 60 of them were booked tonight. Since Sulaimania has cooler weather than the south, many Arabs come for vacation. Also, judging from the bodies we saw on stretchers as they were wheeled frantically into the ambulances there were some Asian and possibly Bangladeshi people in the hotel. The Bangladeshi man we saw particularly concerns me because in our building we have a very sweet man from Bangladesh who is essentially a custodian. He is a victim of human trafficking and lives in extremely unacceptable conditions at the top of our building. He has friends, in the same situation, who work at Hotel Soma who would presumably also stay at the very top of their building making it extremely difficult to escape during a fire. 

When we arrived there were large crowds of people surrounding the building. Included in those crowds were lots of police in blue uniforms, Iraqi secret police (Asaish) in army looking uniforms, and eventually riot police in black uniforms with big shields. A man told me that three people had jumped out of windows. Chinese, he siad.  There were firefighters in buckets in the sky attempting to put out the fire which seemed to have been mainly in the hotel's restaurant and lounge. The entire front of the hotel is glass and all the windows on the second floor where the fire seemed to be were busted out. Meanwhile, there were men in buckets going to windows where guests were trapped inside. They were punching out window after window looking for people. We saw someone get pulled from a lower level room who seemed to be conscious. On the 8th or 9th story there was a blanket dangling from the window. Someone was trying to signal that they were trapped. Eventually, a limp body of a young woman was pulled out. But the bucket wasn't close enough to the building for them to easily get her in. So the guy in the building was holding her lower body as her upper body just hung, long black hair streaming, 8 or 9 stories up. Alex and I both thought they were going to drop her. I thought I was going to see a body fall from hundreds of feet and land in a huge pile of glass on the ground.  Instead they somehow got her into the bucket and her legs flopped so unnaturally as they hung out the side. We saw two other people who were probably also dead but I like to think just unconscious from smoke damage. Their bodies flopped on the stretchers as the paramedics hastily tried to shove them into the ambulances.

One of the angrier sounding police officers seemed to be yelling, "Don't any of you care what's going on here? Back up! Be more respectful! It's shameful for you to stand here and stare! What's wrong with you people?" Many people seemed to just be quite curious as to what was going on and wanted to see the spectacle. Even I felt like I should be more horrified than I was at what was happening right in front of me. All of those windows they were breaking through and rooms they were searching were only half of the building. There was a whole other half that at a little past midnight when we left hadn't really been explored yet. Who knows how many people were stuck back in those rooms unconscious with smoke filled lungs.  

All the while, Alex and I are trying to figure out where Lydia is. Every once in a while we see her bop in and out of the police and other officials. She was past all the police tape, next to the fire trucks, men yelling commands and police tazering bystanders. Later she told us that for a good while no one even noticed she was really there. There was too much commotion. I met one guy to told me he had seen her around. Our main concern was how close she was to all the glass falling from 7 stories up. At one point someone asked me if we were staying there. I said no but my friend is over there in the middle taking pictures. The man thought I meant she was in the building. He said to me, "Oh maybe she is dead." When I retold the story to Alex he said perhaps with the language barrier the man wasn't sure how to choose his words any more carefully.
Later when we were reunited with Lydia and talking with her newfound friend Ross from the UK, he remarked to her that what was happening must have been like what 9/11 was like. She said, No.

Lydia also recounted what she had seen on the other side of the chaos where she was taking photos. Below the hotel there are two large stores. Two women who seemed to be the owners of the stores had arrived and quickly became extremely upset. They were trying to go in the stores and grab all the things they could. The Asaish were trying to fight the women back and then the crowd was getting angry that the Asaish wouldn't let the women get their things. Lydia said one Asaish just grabbed a guy by the throat and threw him to the ground. Then the tazers came out. When she told the story she asked if we had heard the ominous zapping sounds. We hadn't yet. Lydia said when she realized it wasn't acceptable for her to be in the middle of everything anymore it was when the riot police guys wouldn't stop making eye contact with her and holding their tazers. In this culture eye contact means business so Lydia backed off.

The three of us continued to watch as stretchers flew in and out, ambulances screeched and wailed and police attempted to control crowds. Then I learned what tazers sounded like. I've never felt more like an animal than when I was scrambling to get away from a tazer who's location I was not entirely sure of. That crackling of electricity was loud and sounded painful. I am not about to get myself tazed. After a few rounds of threatening zaps and a few more rounds of the police man barging through the tape I thought was safe to be behind we figured it was time to go home. Lydia wanted to upload all her photos, I had a headache from the smoke and we had just seen enough to scramble our senses for a while.

Earlier this week I was thinking how glad I was that no tragedy like the plane crash in Moshi had happened while I was here in Iraq. I should have known that things like this come out of nowhere. One minute you're writing silly trivia questions and soon after you're seeing a body dangling from a very high window. It's a wonder we're all not terrified of what could happen at any second.

With tired eyes, tired minds, tired souls, we slept

 (view from the ferris wheel in Parki Azadi)

I need more time to process Iraq before I leave Iraq.  

I'm coming to realize that one of the hardest things about only being here for 2 months is I have experienced enough to begin to process some of the bigger issues but it's about time to leave. In my house I have 13 fantastic people who are all also processing things and I think it's safe to say that we're all really good resources for each other. But in less than a week we will leave Suly and go to Istanbul for the surgeries. We'll only be in Turkey for a few days before we all fly off to our respective states.

Walking back from Parki Azadi where we watched the World Cup tonight I had a conversation with Preston couldn't really have happened a month ago. We wouldn't have had the same depth of understanding and at were still getting our bearings at that time.

There are things I'm glad to get home to but there are many other things I'm not happy to leave. Well, really those things are all people and I live with them. Why must I always appreciate experiences most when they're about to end!

PLC Interns 2010!!!!

Look how cute we are!!!!!!!! From L to R and F to B: Lydia, Esther, Lauren, Claire Elise Baker, Alex, Preston, Joey, Daniel, Sophie and Ben.

War Crimes

"This transparency from Good explores the connection between war-related PTSD (a result of tours in Iraq and Afghanistan) and stateside murders committed by veterans.  The Times published a frightening article in 2008 that revealed 121 post-war cases of veterans being charged with murder after they’d returned to the US.  Since then, another 43 vets have been charged.  We’ve all seen pictures of servicemen fitted with cutting edge prosthetics; mainstream media has taught the world about IEDs, Walter Reed, and phantom limbs.  What’s less common to read about, however, is the enduring mental shift that war foists upon its victims.  The echoes of wartime memories stay with veterans for years—even decades—after soldiers have returned home to their families, friends, and jobs." -IC

Sheikh Ali

         Have you ever seen a Muslim cleric from Baghdad? The ones who we see on TV don't seem to normally be on there for positive reasons. So we (Americans) end up being told a single story about these men. Meet Sheikh Ali and see a different side of the story.

What a full recovery looks like

Meet Nvar

This is Nvar (pronounced Nivar). She's 9 years old and has Tetralogy of Fallot. That means there are four different things wrong with her heart. She is one of the children who I get to accompany to surgery in Istanbul this July. Her family has been able to contribute to a good portion of her surgery creating the kind of partnership we love at PLC. This surgery will not be a handout that the Americans swooped in a provided for Nvar but a surgery that Nvar's father worked hard for at his job as a typist in a government office.

If you want to also contribute towards her surgery, if definitely wouldn't hurt...just sayin'...

Build a ship vs. Yearn for the sea

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”

      – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

      Here at PLC our sea is Iraq and it's children. We need to tell stories in a way that creates a yearning for more information concerning this country and the people live here. Sounds lovely, but is much easier said than done.

Postcards from Hell

Postcards from Hell is a photo essay with images of the world's most failed states. "For the last half-decade, the Fund for Peace, working with Foreign Policy, has been putting together the Failed States Index, using a battery of indicators to determine how stable -- or unstable -- a country is. But as the photos here demonstrate, sometimes the best test is the simplest one: You'll only know a failed state when you see it." It's really worth checking out the rest of Postcards from Hell and taking a look at the Failed States Index.

3. Sudan - "In this scene, children crowd around a U.N. helicopter in the South Sudanese town of Akobo."

4. Zimbabwe - "The bad news is that Mugabe has kept up his dictatorial rule as if nothing had changed; for example, he celebrated his 30th anniversary in office to the spectacular fanfare seen here, where children display militant loyalty to the ruling party."

7. Iraq - Iraq rocketed to the top of the Failed States Index after a 2003 U.S. military invasion ousted the dictator Saddam Hussein and set off a period of violent turmoil. Amid the explosion of sectarian killings and reprisals that followed, more than 2 million Iraqis fled the country, and many have yet to return. Although Iraq has calmed dramatically since the violence peaked in 2007, the country remains deeply polarized along ethnic and religious lines. Recent parliamentary elections were among the freest in the Arab world, but were marred by suicide attacks and allegations of fraud, and a new government has yet to be named. Any number of factors could prove destabilizing going forward: tension over oil rights, latent Sunni-Shiite hostility, the pullout of U.S. combat troops by Sept. 1. An April 23 attack in Baghdad is pictured here, on a day when 58 died in similar assaults throughout the country.   

16. Burma - "Most recently, a cease-fire between the minority Kokang and the Burmese military broke down, sending refugees pouring over the border with China. Here, a girl carries a basket through a market in the northern part of the country."

21. Uganda - "In office since 1986, the country's president, Yoweri Museveni, has come under increasing criticism in recent years for his kleptocratic rule and reluctance to give up power. Here, men rallying against Museveni burn a bus in protest. "

"She's always smiling" - The Story of Honya Mahdi

"She's Always Smiling" The Story of Honya Mahdi from Preemptive Love on Vimeo.

We are going toward light

     One of the things I have most enjoyed and been surprised to find are all the positive messages around the city. Not that I expected to find anything negative but it's refreshing to see messages of hope plastered across a public space.

 This is one of my favorites.

This shop is near the bus stop closest to our house. On our first day in Suly we were sent off to the bazaar. We wandered through shops and wove through crowds for 2 hours before attempting to catch a bus home. Instead we never found a bus and ended up walking a significantly longer distance than my feet were ready to handle. Only when I saw this sign did I really know its ok, I would make it home soon.

This is in a creepy tunnel that goes under one of the main streets in Suly. Amidst the political grafitti the walls are coated with different colored pieces of paper that directly translates to, "Is your life delicious?" in Kurdish. What it essentially means is are you satisfied with your life or is your life all that you want it to be? 

This is across the street from Parki Azadi which is a gigantic park in the middle of the city. It used to be an army base and there used to be mass graves full of the Kurdish people that Saddam had killed. But now it has been reclaimed as Freedom Park.

Who knows what other gems are hidden within this city. I look forward to discovering them all.

Dr. Aso is the Boss-O

A while back I went with handful of interns to visit Dr. Aso's office. He is our primary pediatric cardiologist here in the city. Also, he is amazing. Each morning he sees about 20 children although he knows each child deserves a hour all to themselves. But the demand is too great so what is he to do?

There isn't much privacy in Aso's office. The examination room and waiting room are kind of combined into one large space. Everyone gets looked at with an audience and gets their diagnosis with an audience. (A woman in my ESL class described to me a gynecological visit that was the same set up. Can you imagine getting that kind of check up with a room full of people!?) Our photographers were able to come in and take all the pictures they wanted without really asking the parents (who's children are getting looked at for life threatening diseases!) or other staff. Granted they get what they needed and leave as soon as they could it still showed how little privacy was given in the situation.

Dr. Aso is an incredibly gracious man. He was very warm and welcoming and his spirit exuded optimism. He has learned to make due with the resources he has. After attending medical school in Italy Aso returned home to Kurdistan to help his people. He is a paying member of a pediatric cardiology association in Europe but is unable to be granted a visa to attend seminars. According to him it is because he is an Iraqi but no matter the reason without further training he cannot learn the newest techniques and improve his knowledge of the type of medical care so desperately needed here. Even Aso's supervisor does not know many of the procedures required to fix the children that come in their office so how can Aso become better?

Still he is creative with what he has. A girl around 7 or 8 came in to have her heart checked. I could never imagine a heartbeat could be so irregular and a person still be alive. But here she was sitting by me with her huge brown eyes staring at me while I made really excited faces in an effort to make her feel like everything was ok. Aso wanted to hear what her heart rate was like after some exercise. Many doctors have a treadmill or something handy for these situations. Instead he dramatically waved his arms around and smiled wide as he told her to go run up and down the stairs three times. Once she returned, he checked her again and told us with medicine she would be completely fine.

The machine Dr. Aso uses to see into a child's chest was given to him by Italian partners. The part that is run over the heart (which looks similar to what is used for a sonogram) is normally used on 1,000 patients before being replaced. Aso has used his on over 4,000 patients. He said his western counterparts are always shocked when they hear that. Apparently the picture on the echo machine (which is the TV-like screen that shows the heart function) is getting fuzzy. Dr. Aso said this offhand but I'm assuming American doctors would balk at that fact.

During the few hours we were there Dr. Aso was continuously explaining to us what was going on and answering any questions we had. On the one hand this was very helpful and nice of him to do. On the other hand I felt bad that we were getting critical information before the parents. Some of the parents seemed annoyed at our presence, some kind of excited and others ambivalent. One younger mother had brought her toddler in because at different appointment a doctor said her son had an enlarged heart. She looked so worried and constantly on the verge of tears as she tried to calm her squirmy son. While Dr. Aso was talking to us about what was going on I tried to keep smiling at her to some how lessen her stress. She waited so patiently to hear the diagnosis that could change her and her son's life forever. The diagnosis we were being told first. Luckily, the boy was completely fine. You could see every muscle in the young mother's body relax as she heard the good news. It was like she melted but in the best possible way.

The last amazing thing we experienced in that office was this...

Baby Abdul came into the office with his father. (Read this amazing PLC blog post written by Esther about Abdul and his father. Especially read the second to last paragraph.) We got to watch Aso diagnose him with a very serious heart condition (he's already had one surgery but it's benefits are only a temporary fix) and then recommend PLC to Abdul's father. When we returned to the office Lydia showed us the above picture and we learned that they came straight over to meet Jeremy and discuss their options. Now baby Abdul is going to be a part of the Remedy Mission!!!! 

This is why Remedy is so important. With this one event, Dr. Aso will get training from highly educated doctors, 30 children like Abdul will be able to see their next birthday and 30 families will rejoice because their children are on their way to better health.

The day I went to the hospital for this visit had started out terribly but it ended up being good for my heart. And that's exactly what Dr. Aso is there for, to fix hearts.

Best meal ever.

      At Sara (S-are-a) this is a simple meal for 2. See that rice right there. It's delicious. Normally, rice bores me and I don't like it's texture. But this lovely dish with raisins on top is fantastic. Not to mention if you put those beans on it mmm mmm mmmmmm. Look at little higher on the right. You'll see a bowl with orange squishy things in it. They're tiny apricots and they always make my day. Also good on the rice. To the left you'll see naan, huge pieces of flat bread to dip and mix with whatever you want. It's always fresh and always good.  In the center, where it belongs, is some chicken tikka. Never before have I woken up craving chicken before. Many of my housemates are under the same spell, we've never before have we felt this way! There's some perfect mixture of salt, lemon juice, yogurt, and spice that makes Sara's chicken better than any other in the city. At least to our knowledge. Same with the rice and beans.

       I want to meet the man who cooks this food and shake his hand (except that's culturally inappropriate), I want to write a letter to the President of Iraq and tell him America thanks him for this chicken, and I want to evangelize on behalf of Sara. If you didn't have a reason to visit Sulaimania before, you obviously do now.

Preemptive Flickr

Aren't you really impressed by the high quality of these photos? I know, they're great! If you want to see more you can go to PLC's Flickr!! 

And as always we have our BLOG and FACEBOOK pages. Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch- check them out. See wh-wh-wh-wh-what they're all about. (If you realize this is a Beastie Boys reference then you should also realize I think you're awesome)

The Refugee Flow

"Some 43.3 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide at the end of 2009, the highest number of people uprooted by conflict and persecution since the mid-1990s, according to UNHCR's annual 2009 Global Trends report, released today. At the same time, the number of refugees voluntarily returning to their home countries has fallen to its lowest level in twenty years." Read the full article from The UN Refugee Agency.

View a larger version of the infographic here! 

"Simply put, as conflicts rumble on, those who fled the initial fighting cannot safely return until the gunfire falls silent.

The key drivers of these trends are continuing conflicts in countries such as Afghanistan, Somalia and the Congo, Democratic Republic of and as-yet-unresolved situations in places such as Iraq and Sudan. Colombia's 3.3 million internally-displaced persons is the highest in the world, with African nations accounting for 40% of the world's internally-displaced population.

Most interesting, perhaps, is the rubbishing of so-called conventional wisdom with regards to refugee relocation. Forget our over-burdened immigration system; four out of every five refugees are housed in the developing world, with Europe only accounting for the resettlement of 16% of the global population.
So who takes the most refugees? Pakistan leads the way, with 1.7 million, and Iran and Syria, at just over 1 million each, make up the podium. The US and the UK? They barely make the Top 10."

Honya is cute.

Graduation!!

Some of my students from ESL! 

From L to R: Lauren and myself, Medya, Dalya, Vian, Ahmad, Bryar, and Shawnm

Ahmad with Dalya's son Tolas. 

They're both wearing Juli Kurdi which are traditional Kurdish clothes for men.  

Lauren, Zeba and me. 

Zeba normally has a huge smile and a very expressive face. But getting her to smile even this much for a picture was tricky because many people here don't really smile in photos. 

Ahmad, Shawnm and Medya!

Vian and myself.

We talk about Grey's Anatomy together. 

Lauren, Elise, Sarah and I.

Elise and Sarah are longer term volunteers at the Life Center where we teach. And they're awesome.

Grand Ole Flag

This is the flag of Kurdistan. Just thought you would like to know.

This is Mohammad Star. It was in his village, which is nestled in the mountains of Kurdistan, where that Kurdish flag waves. Mohammad is holding on of the 14 chickens he raised from scratch. (And from scratch I mean 13 of them are from eggs.) I don't know any other 10 year olds who have the maturity to raise another living thing. He had successful heart surgery last November and is fully recovered. Hallelujah.

Secret Santa in June

        For Lydia's birthday last week she wanted to have a secret santa-esque scramble throughout the bazaar. Nine of us pulled names and set off in pairs to find a gift under 2,000 dinar or about $2 for our partner. I drew Josh/Joseph/Joey and Lauren (my walking partner for the afternoon) drew Esther. Now, Esther is currently mastering Kurdish so getting her gift was easy. Once a English/Kurdish dictionary was purchased we were off to figure out what to get for Josh. After a long search I ended up getting him an neon green phone cover. All of our phones are identical so this gift was not as lame as it sounds. When we all met back up it was time to exchange treasures. 

Lydia got me a necklace with some bling.

      At first glance, this is just an awesome necklace in the shape of Kurdistan. But then when you realize that on the necklace is the Iraqi flag instead of the flag of Kurdistan you realize that this necklace is implying that Kurdistan should become a part of Iraq and not be independent like it desires so strongly to be. Upon learning this all involved feel terrible for buying and owning the necklace. All the atrocities that have happen in Kurdistan were because Saddam's Iraq wouldn't let the Kurds be their own people or have their own nation. So the symbolism behind this necklace is incredibly insulting. The only reason we even found out was because I pulled it out to show Kurdish guy he reacted very strangely and Lauren noted the flag difference. Thank goodness we noticed at all.
       Nevertheless!!! The afternoon was a success!!! Everyone went home with gifts and smiles which was the main goal the whole time. All for the love of Lydia.

Life in Iraq: Careers

This post was written by my lovely roommate Lauren. 

You can find the rest of her blog here.

 photo by: Lydia Bullock

Life in Iraq: Careers
I've been sitting in on Preston and Claire's English class on Monday and Wednesday evenings, just to listen to English-speaking Kurds talk about life. It's an advanced class; everyone can converse in English quite well. (Every once in a while they'll ramble on in Kurdish, and the three of us Americans look at each other awkwardly.)

Every class has a new discussion topic. Yesterday we talked about professions and education.

I know we talk in America about being underpaid and under-appreciated as workers, but I don't think we know what we're talking about. In America we have minimum wage and unions and employee evaluations. Before we apply for jobs, we read job descriptions.

Those things are non-existent in Iraq. Some of them are starting to show up - like job descriptions and evaluations - but are for the most part obsolete.

One woman in Claire and Preston's class, Media, is a high school science teacher. She hates her job, but unlike so many of us in the States, she really can't quit her job. Not because of money, but because she's limited to certain jobs. She has to fill out paperwork before she can switch professions.

Media has to teach from a 20-year-old textbook and cannot stray from it without getting in trouble. She can't punish her students for cheating or acting up without getting in trouble herself.

All the men and women in the Life Center's class are professionals. The students are geologists and government workers and interior designers and techies. They are just like the geologists and government workers and interior designers and techies in the States. They're college educated. They talk to each other with respect. They dress similarly to us.

I'm afraid that we equate rough working conditions, like in Iraq, to lazy or uneducated people.

The problem isn't the people; the problem's with the system.As Westerners we tend to make assumptions without understanding the problem. I don't think I totally understand the problem, but I know women like Media and men like Aso and Bryar are hard workers and can't get promoted because the system doesn't allow for it.

Another woman told a story about her aunt who's an ear-nose-throat doctor. This aunt won awards for her work in overseas in countries like Switzerland, but she won't come back to Kurdistan to practice because she's under-appreciated.

Maybe America really is the land of opportunity.

You Are A Lucky Duck

From IC

Full Circle

Photo by Lydia Bullock

Today I went to Dr. Aso's office at a children's hospital. This man was there to get an echocardiogram for his son who has transposition of the great vessels. Dr. Aso had already done a surgery providing a temporary fix for young Abdul. But while we were in his office he suggested to the father to visit PLC to get his son out of country surgery. Later when we returned to the office Lydia showed us these fantastic images of the father and son who had just come in the office! Hopefully Abdul will get to be a part of Remedy Mission this August and it will quite literally save his life.

Hey! Are you happy?

Some people have very difficult lives.
Some people fight for change that might never come.
Some people have the ability to enact change but choose laziness.
Some people are movers and shakers and doers.
All people have the opportunity to be happy.

The Danger of a Single Story

Do you have a single story of Iraq? Don't let it hold you back.

Awareness Vs. Education

      This is one of the more well known photos from the Halabja genocide. Looking at it should make your heart hurt. Sadly, this photo is tame compared to so many others. Especially compared to other genocides where machetes and other brute force was used.

      Halabja is appalling and terrible. I mean, during the attack the city was bombed first so the windows would break therefore making it easily to kill more people when they dropped the chemical gasses. It's one level of horrible just to think about senseless mass destruction but another to realize the planning and high intention to kill people as thoroughly as possible.

     But that said, so many genocides have happened and continue to happen all the time. The United States and much of the world did not even recognize what happened in this small town in northern Iraq.
5,000+ dead within hours
11,000+ severely injured
Is that not worth recognizing? My high school had less than 5,000 students but if Westwood was decimated I'm going to wager it would get some international attention. So what else is happening in our world that we're unaware of?

        Yesterday in the office we talked about the difference between awareness and education. Awareness isn't very thorough. It's a surface knowledge of something. Education is more inclusive, requiring effort and intention.  It could be argued that awareness (of an issue so serious as genocide) without the intention of education is apathy and affirmation of the act. When the international community didn't respond to the Halabja attacks it was like they were saying it was allowable. If it wasn't allowable, something would have been said.

What I'm trying to say in all of this is educate yourself. It's not enough to be aware something bad is happening. Often times it is more appealing to stay ignorant than be immersed in information that emanates hated. But do it anyway. Empower the victims by learning about them, caring for them and not accidentally approving of their situation by your chosen apathy. I need to work on this just as much as the next person so please don't think I'm over here on a high horse.

Start to educate yourself...
http://www.genocideintervention.net/
http://genocide.change.org/

I'm legal in Iraq, illegal in Iran.

       I now have my official Iraq visa! After going to the proper offices two days in a row and the process ending with them taking my blood, I am allowed to be here for 2 months. Yes!
      Sophie and I went with Awara for the blood drawing and completely freaked ourselves out. Something about tourniquets makes me uncomfortable though.

     More importantly, I visited Halabja (about 2 hours away) today. On March 16, 1988, which was towards the end of the Iraq-Iran war, Saddam Hussein and his forces attacked the village of Halabja. At 4pm planes started flying overhead and started at 5 hour decimation of the area. So let's make this clear, Saddam Hussein is bombing his own country.
    " Survivors said the gas at first scented with the smell of sweet apples; they said people died in a number of ways, suggesting a combination of toxic chemicals (some of the victims "just dropped dead" while others "died of laughing"; while still others took a few minutes to die, first "burning and blistering" or coughing up green vomit)^. It is believed that Iraqi forces used multiple chemical agents during the attack, including mustard gas and the nerve agents sarin, tabun and VX; some sources have also pointed to the blood agenthydrogen cyanide (most of the wounded taken to hospitals in the Iranian capital Tehran were suffering from mustard gas exposure)." At this point in time the United States was a fan of Saddam and sold him some of these chemicals knowing full well what they were going to be used for.
       Today we just visited a memorial museum and because of the ridiculous heat we postponed visiting the gravesite until later in the summer. At the museum there was a photograph of bodies piled up in a pick up truck. As the truck drove off bodies fell on to the street because it was too full. There were 25 people in that truck bed and it turned out 3 of those people were still alive. One of the men who was still alive had been passed out in the back of that truck for 3 days.
      He was one of the people showing us around the museum today. How do you show the awe and respect you feel to someone who has been through so much?

     After the museum we headed in a different direction towards a waterfall/picnic destination.

(Esther, Shoham, Me and Lauren at our picnic spot)

       We drove up into the mountains for our lovely afternoon picnic. With all the streams running to and fro some of the area reminded me on Schlitterbahn. It wasn't long before Esther and I had the theme song stuck in our heads. After a playing around in the water a bit and eating a delicious lunch we started the trek further up the mountain to the waterfall. Recently some American tourists went hiking around the waterfall, wandered in Iran and got themselves arrested. Because of this we got to have a cop escort us on our hike. 

(This is Micah shooting our cop in the face with his water gun.)

Also on our hike we were able to see Iran given that it was only around 3km up an over a mountain. But don't worry, we had no intentions of trying to climb over it.

So this blog post is taking forever to sort out and put together so for now it's going to end. Xua Hafiz!

Verbal Wreckage

So when you live in house with 13 people you've never met before it's quite easy to notice traits about yourself you wouldn't have otherwise noticed. Whenever you're taken out of your element certain things stand out that didn't stand out before. Here are some of the more comical things I have noticed about myself...
1. If someone asks me a question I was entirely unprepared for my face freezes as my brain tries to quickly sort out what was asked. At one point I was told there was twitching involved.
2. I have a tendency to think of many different ways to say one simple sentence. Then I can't decide which one to say first so my mouth tries to spit them all out simultaneously. This results in massive verbal wreckage.
3. Many people's brand of sarcasm escapes me. I knew this somewhat before hand but it's become more evident all over again being around new people. It's rough.

Aformentioned Rooftop Terrace

This is the view from my roof. 

Ismail Khayat

This small stone was a gift.

Each intern was given one by an artist named Ismail Khayat who works with PLC. It looks simple but what it represents is much bigger than you could guess.

Ismail was a young man in the 80's during the Iraq-Iran war. Iran cut off the water supply to the river that ran through Ismail's village leaving the village quite desperate. As a form of protest he went to the river and drew fish and other pictures on to the stones to put life back where the water used to be.  He also made it a personal mission to try and illustrate the 182,000 Kurds that were killed by Saddam Hussein as part of the Anfal policies (kurdish genocide). Ismail figures he will never be able to draw every individual that is now buried in the hills of Kurdistan. But he will still try.

A few photos

Picture 1: taken out the window of a second floor business in the bazaar

Picture 2: Daniel, Preston, Josh, Lauren and Esther. Esther is telling us about her first home visit to Leah's house. Leah is an infant who has down syndrome and is also in need of heart surgery. 

Picture 3: A case of klash. Klash are handmade shoes that are very common in here in Kurdistan. The creation process is amazing. Check it out here.

Picture 4: Real proof I'm in Iraq! Me, Esther and Lauren take a break on a bench.