Moving to Kurdistan!

Dearest most Loyal Blog Reader (s), no matter in which freezing cold, or melting hot corner of the world you maybe in right now!!!

I admit I am not the best blogger. A huge apology for all the inboxes which I have not replied to, but here I am with a post that will probably answer all your questions, and more. Truuuuuuust me!!!

By the way, read till the end of this post and you will see a surprise. Consider it a New Year present from me to you.

So, sit back, no, actually go get yourself a pyala of chai (or coffee), then sit back, relax and read away as you will have all the information on living in this part of the world only clicks away. You've gotta love me for this!

This is what a pyala of chai looks like. (Tea  in a special glass, referred to as Istikan in Arabic)

So, let's get started! Shall we?!

Ladies first. As always! 

Men seem to dive in to any new place they live in, whether for a holiday or work related stay. However, us women, well... let's just saw we like to know where we are going and a little planning and thinking doesn't hurt!

Your first stop should be the Women's International Network Erbil (W.I.N.E) page, feel free to click here  if you're a woman in Erbil. I advice you to join the large family of women from all corners of the world who share the nice pizza they had at certain restaurant, their search for a particular cupcake mixture at the supermarkets or it can be a place to share your complaints and difficulties while living in the ever growing city in it's transition phase. Believe me, with over 600 members in the group there is always almost someone who replies with an answer to your question or gives support, advice and kind words to your complaint.

Women's International Network Erbil 

This group is so good to the extent that you can ask the number of a restaurant that delivers the best burgers and you will have a reply with in two minutes! I must mention once more it is a WOMEN'S ONLY group.

Let's Volunteer in Kurdistan, Erbil

There are various ways you can do this, but it is often best to volunteer with an NGO because in many places here you can't just walk and say: "Hey! I want to volunteer with you." The sad reality is you will get people raising their eye brows. Hence, you can start in one of these places.

Volunteers in Erbil  is a page on Facebook where you can get to know other people who are interested in volunteering. From there you can share your ideas and involve others who have same interests and want to help out.

Volunteers in Erbil - page

You can contact the RISE Foundation, click here they're a great group who do great work. I have seen them in action and I must say very easy going. Someone by the name of Tom was a great help at a point where a friend collected a lot of donations, they helped in entering the refugee camp and distributing a lot of the goods (note there are two Toms in RISE!). Contact them! Some wonderful people there! However, I think their work is limited to only refugees in the Region.

RISE Foundation

My first start in volunteering was with START NGO, their door is always open, feel free to click here and learn more about what they do.

START NGO

* Sorry if there are any typos, it is hard to focus on what to write when you're eating some amazing kulicha with tea! Also, a BIG HUGE SORRY, the display pictures of the PrintScreens are not appearing on the computer. I blame the slow internet connection. I am apparently very behind for not upgrading to FastLink which apparently is the fastest internet at the moment.

Anyhowwwww back to what we were saying. Ways to volunteer in Erbil.

IFMSA International Federation of Medical Students Association- Kurdistan was initiated by my amazing friend Dr. Leila Amin. I remember I attended one of their events this year, many of the volunteers who are medical students referred to Leila as the God Mother of IFMSA-Kurdistan. She initiated it, and now it is run by some  SUPER AMAZING young Kurds! If you are a nurse, doctor or anything in that field GET IN TOUCH with Leila and her superb team!

IFMSA Kurdistan - Facebook post

And finally a wonderful group of young people run the Dilvia Charity organization, which according to my knowledge are all volunteers. I had a few friends there when Dilvia was just starting.

Dilvia Charity Organization

Fun, leisure and yeah.. more fun in Erbil

For those who like to have some fun, here are some places for you to start.  The only (I think) English radio station in Erbil is called Babylon, it is streamed on 99.3 FM, there is an amazing morning show which will make you laugh all the way to work. I think you can listen to it online no matter where you are, click here to find out more about them. The three hosts will be your best friends in your lonely Erbil mornings. So do tune in.

99.3 Babylon FM, English Radion Station in Kurdistan

This is the iErbil page. Browse around, basically little bits and pieces about Erbil, insights, advertisements, and you can read what many individuals write who are already living here. 

iErbil

The Erbil Lifestyle page is all about where to go and what to do in Erbil. Everything from events, parties to people and places. For example did you know the Lebanese (I think she's lebanese) artist Nawal el Zoughbi will be hosting a party on New Year's Eve in Erbil. Nop. I bet you didn't. (You probably don't even know who she is, but you get my point) So give  the page a like and browse around.

Events in Erbil for New Year #Hawlerakam #Hawler

Ummm.. for the ones who like to have a night life (to be honest other than Iskan street and the malls I am the wrong person to give advice on a night life in this city) but there is a closed group which I am not a member of. Some of you might want to have a look, it is the Erbil Night Life page. My nightlife consists of family gatherings or the most is a burger in one of the infinite cafes/ restaurants. (I have a few posts on mandalawi.blogspot.com on various cafes. Check them out!)

Finally, Spotted Erbil  is a fun leisure page which you might like to have a look at. 

Spotted Erbil Facebook page

Oooooops! Almost forgot, for The Nerdy type - we do have the Erbil Book Club group as well, not many people seem interested, there are about seven of us (girls) now. It's kind of fun, because we end up reading a book and never meeting up.  If the situation improves I will make sure to blog about that too.

The University of Kurdistan Hewler offers Music Lessons once a week. If you are interested. There is however a fee.

Also, there are Yoga and Zumba classes running in Erbil as well. If you are interested to join. The Yoga classes runs four days a week. (Click on the Yoga and Zumba button, it will take you directly to the pages, do send them an inbox with your questions.)

That's it for now! Dearest Loyal Blog Reader, click away to the many pages and sites, write emails, comments and find your home away from home in Erbil, or as I like to call it, Hawlerakam (My Hawler).


For those who did scroll down and want to know the surprise. Ummm I honestly don't know what you were expecting as a surprise, but I will be blogging for seven consecutive days, as from today (please say this was a good surprise. Yes? No? Ok. that's a no!) Also, as a 2014 gift I will be posting my Memoirs column back in the Kurdish Globe days. Every Wednesday night on Mandalawi.blogspot

SURPRISE!!! Read above. Hehe

Okay, okay, I get it. Can you at least act like you are surprised and excited?!

:)

For now xwa hafiz!

Wednesday Memoirs - The loyal child

The loyal child

By Sazan M. Mandalawi

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the Kurdish culture is the strong family bond it tries to celebrate.

Nuclear family is still very much alive in Kurdistan and inspires hope to entire generations. In fact, the elderly do not have to leave the family for a nursing home. Sazan Mandalawi explains more.

I have come to enjoy my regular visits to the orthodontist, as you may understand a five minute doctor's visit results in five hours of patience in the waiting room. With the most recent visit, after an hour of reading Ambrose and Brinkley's book Rise to Globalism with history of American foreign policy. The words on the page became scribbles and squiggly lines in front of my eyes. Clearly, not learning anything, with the sound of the Mulla's baang - a call for evening prayers - closing the book I placed it on my lap, looking around the waiting room, and down on the street through the window, I realized just by observing, we can learn and observe so much about Kurdish people.

I can write about the reckless driving in Erbil's medical road, the endless long waiting hours, the pregnant mother with three toddlers, the crying child, the Taxi horns, the bags of prescribed medicine and the topics of chit-chat and gossip in the waiting room.

Nevertheless, what caught my attention was observing a young man holding the hand of an elderly man, clearly his father, with the other hand placed gently on his shoulders, above the arched back, guiding him across the busy street. I thought at that point he would let him go, I was mistaken, as they walked a little further and until the point my eyes could follow them into the doctor's center he kept his father close to him, like an overly precious gem that he was so cautious about to keep safe.

The picture was clear in my mind, an ill elderly father, mid seventies I would imagine, the son brining him for a doctor's visit. This is not a rare scenario in the region. In fact, the bond and care a family share is undeniably one of the most beautiful and inspiring features of the Kurdish culture.

This particular incident I observed that day reflects and reveals a great deal about the importance of family bond here in the region. I have come to realize the sons and daughters as they grow they remain loyal to their parents who sacrificed everything for them. In fact the society has stereotyped any child who puts their parents in nursing homes as heartless, disloyal and careless.

I compare this to abroad, in most cases after a certain age children leave their family's house to live on their own or couples move in together. Whilst children are at school, parents have full time jobs, family time is little, and leisure time is usually spent with friends. As parents age, some begin to save for nursing homes, a loyal son would visit his mother or father on the weekend, either at their place, or to the nursing home. I learnt in our society this is different, as much as children grow through the eyes of their parents they remain children, and after every prayer a mother would pray for each of her kids, one by one. Furthermore, the kids themselves, as much as they grow they feel the need to be close to their parents.

Occasionally, even after marriage if there are no financial problems, the son may see it as his duty to stay and live with his mother and father, so not to leave them alone in their elderly age and in case they need anything. Here there is self sacrifice for the sake of his parents, this should be realized and appreciated. In other countries, in some cases, as children grow the family bond to a degree breaks apart; every individual moves into their own path and take their own direction in life, seeking their own interest. Unlike here, the western culture does not encourage making certain decision in life for the sake of your parents.

As long as it is not extremely self sacrificing, this bond and feel of responsibility towards parents and family members is another one of the cultural aspect of Kurdish people that make them so unique and special.

The young gentleman I was referring to earlier who took the responsibility to take his ill father to the doctor feels this is the smallest thing he can do in return for all the sacrifices and hardship his father suffered for the sake of him and his siblings. A tradition and culture as such should be closely cherished to the heart and make every Kurd proud, indeed, scenarios as such make me a proud Kurd. Kurdish parents suffered a lot in bringing up their children, and they deserve the extra attention and care as they age.

This column was published in the Kurdish Globe newspaper on Saturday, 16 May 2009, 08:31 GMT

Change the world, one person at a time!

Dear Loyal Blog Reader,

They say a picture tells a thousand words. I will save the words, and leave you with the pictures. I hope they tell a few thousand words on our recent training of forty youth at the Kawrgosk and the Darashakran refugee camps based in Erbil.

And when there is a few minutes of time, we visit families in each of the tents

The little ones always get our attention

When we had to train at a tent, in the evening, and the electricity cut. 

The three of us, Anmar, Rasti and I, at points in our life we were refugees. Even though we were young and only glimpses or pictures are captured in our minds, we grew up with stories from our parents about the experiences of fleeing our home. Today, the three of us, all together, have spent weeks with youth in a refugee camp. A few years back we were trained by the UNFPA as Youth Peer Educators.

Rasti and I in action! 

At the time the three of us were just volunteers while we were students. Rasti in Media division at Salahaddin Uni, Anmar a student in the physical education college in Baghdad, Me, Politics and International Relations in Erbil. We were young, loving life and wanting to make a change. I guess you can say we had a little too much energy. Today, we have all graduated and have began our careers, but somethings just never change. Never.

Y Peer team! Give us a flip chart, a few markers and a group of youth! That's all. 

An activity that allows each of the participants to discuss their suffering, and if they decide to lose hope and put off their candles, others will light it for them once again. This activity almost always makes us cry. But we have found it is the most helpful activity with the refugees. You learn that you are not alone in your pain and suffering. 

We make new friends

Day one of our training in Darashakran

Rasti in action! 

Hospitality in the tents

Hope. Life. Love. 

Anmar during one the sessions. Participants- group work

... [I could not think of a caption]

Training doesn't stop, even if there's no electricity, even if it's night, even if it's freezing cold. No it doesn't. 

You learn to appreciate life much more when working with vulnerable people

Under these tents there are many stories to be told

Can you also call this your home?

Rasti makes a new friend

Hope. A little girl had made this outside her family's tent. 

"We put off the heater at night, because it's dangerous. The tent can burn down in less than two minutes." 

Rasty and Anmar writing their testimonies, now, as I put this post together... 

Words from Rasty about our recent training with Kurds in the Syrian Refugee Camp based in Erbil

Words from Anmar! 

Sad but smiling!

Dear Loyal Blog Reader,

(This was written a week back, I didn't realize it wasn't published)

Contradiction in the title of this post, right? I agree.

In the recent days I am back at the refugee camp, this time in two different camps in Erbil - Kawrgosk and Darashakran. In total, my colleague and I are training 42 youth.

42 young individuals with hopes and dreams; 42 individuals who cross the line to answer 'yes' to the "I am optimistic" question. Yet the same 42 say they are lucky to have one shower a week in the personal hygiene session. 42 youth who jump, play and take part in our activities, 42 individuals who laugh, and tell jokes but can immediately cry when asked to talk about the hardest part of living in a refugee camp.

My dear reader, if you have not yet witnessed a young man or woman lose control of the muscles in their eyes to prevent tears from sliding down their cheeks I will explain to you how it feels. It is much worse than you going through pain, it is as though the person you love most in this world is being sliced in front of your eyes, they're yelling for your help, but you cannot reach them. Yes, that's how it feels.

Having said this, here we are learning from one another. Empowering these young people to make healthier decisions, lead better lives and most importantly to never lose hope. When our mission ends, we all say goodbye with tears, they know we have made a difference in their lives, and I know I will miss them... a lot.