The journey continues

January 2, 2012

10:47 p.m.

Yesterday and a part of today it was just visiting people who would not leave us alone unless we went and at least drank tea at their place. It is al….

[I was so busy that I didn't end up finishing this entry... I remember that more people came and I had to go and say hello...but I will post some of the pictures with captions to fill in the gap of what happened then]

4^th January 2012

6:45 p.m. local time

What a day it was today!

We left Kermanshah to Ewan early this morning. Ever since it has been a pact day, this area of Irani Kurdistan is the land of my ancestors.

On the way here we stopped at the cemetery where my grandmother and grandfather were buried. It was the second time I have visited in my life. What a world, one family, but we are separated in different cemeteries, across different countries. My grandparents of mum’s side are here, while their children are buried in Iraq. How I wish they were all in one place.

My mother.... praying to her mother......

I met my cousin B.M. today, she’s an inspiration. When they were forcibly displaced from Iraq to Iran under the Saddam regime B.M. along with my aunty and her father were in prison for eight months… the reason? in straightforward words, because they were Kurds.

Despite all difficulties she managed to start a life again in a different country, and with much difficulty made it to university where she studied mathematics, after being a maths teacher at school, she is now back in university studying law, with one year to go she is planning to study her masters right away. Being the only child she has the responsibility of looking after her elderly parents, in bed as well as her two kids. She holds the responsibility of the house, while her husband is working.

Even right now, as I type she is serving tea, after having made dinner—and she has an exam tomorrow.

A little earlier we briefly went to see some families who dad knew (of course, they were relatives too. I couldn’t stop laughing, M.M. Junior keeps complaining that he is getting too many sloppy, slippery kisses from the elder people here!), they are in the villages of Zarna and Taran. Speaking to the village girls I learned many of them are studying for university, one of the girls was studying law, another wants to go to medicine, the other girl has graduated from college of sports. Yes, these are all Kurdish girls, in villages in Irani-Kurdistan who have education as their priority. Having said this, many are hopeless. “I have graduated with no job,” said one of the girls. This is a major issue here, many of the graduates are jobless, she was saying she doesn’t encourage her sister-in-law to go to university because it “doesn’t make a difference… she will sit at home at the end of the four years!” I tried to influence saying sometimes education isn’t just about having a great job. They agreed. Their parents also encourage their studies and it is widely accepted for a girl in these villages to go to Kermanshah or even Tehran to study in university; this was something that I am surprised about, and did not expect.

I realize that the educated younger people despise the regime here, while the olders or those with less information seemed to accept and like the regime. “I don’t watch TV, so I don’t follow news here.” Said one of the girls in the village of Zarna, her brother who is studying his masters in Kermanshah has taught her to use the internet and takes her to net café when he comes. So she was telling me how she follows the news online.

*please excuse all typos, miss-spellings etc... these entries were all written on the go and I haven't read through them again before posting on the blog Thank you for your understanding!