LIVE FROM ERBIL- At the marathon

To the most loyal blog follower in the world- Hellloooo!!!
am katat bash!!!!! 
Okay okay, I admit this blog comes a tiny winy little bit late (as in almost two weeks late!) but look at the bright side, at least I am writing about it. I actually ran (more like 'walked' wink* wink*) a marathon.

Ready. Set. Go.

So.  I went online and wrote my name for the Erbil International Marathon and started filling in the girls' inboxes asking them to take part as well. Initially I was all for the 10 km run for the second Erbil International Marathon. All good, right?

Little CUTE boy with his father at the Erbil International Marathon for peace

Then good old friend, NQ, (if you're a Loyal Blog Follower you'd know exactly who she is) decides to go pick up our shirts and bags, while she's there she changes my 10 km run into 2 km. She knows her friend Saz will faint after 100 meters. So, here I am making a big deal of the marathon and ended up not evening running but walking for 2 km with little toddlers and primary school kids. But I had the time of my life.

The CUTE little boy taking a rest at every bench he saw!

A run for peace on a Friday or a Saturday morning is very new here, for over a few thousand people to turn up was just amazing. There were uni girls with their mums, friends, and many fathers and sons. The atmosphere I must admit was amazing.

After the finish line.

 Once through the finish line--so proud we made it to the end-- the 10 km runners came. We didn't end up staying for the arrival of the 42 km runners but I could see people coming through the finish with all different backgrounds; Africans, Americans, British, Canadian, Arabs, Turks, Kurds, Christians, Muslims, everyone! All colours and nationalities. It was a proud moment even though I wished for it to be more organized but I couldn't have asked for a better morning.

Somewhere over the rainbow....  What a finish to the marathon in Park Sami Abdul Rahman

The experience was very different, we need many such events in Erbil and other cities to enjoy ourselves, and get together a community. I was even happier to see important figures, politicians, celebrities and famous faces in their tracksuits or shorts taking part in the run. Step by step change comes to a society.

NQ and I trying to find a shortcut exist on this complicated map, me+maps= :(

Me after the marathon. Felt very proud.

and what do Kurds have after running a marathon? Yaprax (dolma!!!!!) Aaaah! Love mum.

p.s. I have dared myself to actually run the 10 km one next year. I have started going to the gym few days a week. That marathon was a true wake up call. My family have all agreed to take part next year!

All pictures taken by me and good friend NQ by my BB purely for the purpose of this blog!! Yes, yes, yes, I am slowly progressing with all this technology thing.

LIVE FROM ERBIL: BIG DREAMS but step by step

Hellloooooo from Hawler!!

My dearest, most Loyal Reader.. When I am quiet for a bit you know something great is taking place!

There is always something exciting happening in my life here! This week my day has begun at 7:45 every morning until 5:30 pm, it is work but it never feels like work to me.

During one of our Y-Peer activities on day

At the moment I am working on a dream project, the idea is to train young people to go and hold peer education sessions to youth in high schools, colleges and youth centers. Something that has never taken place in Kurdistan before! Hence, it is the youth who are learning from other youth. Yup! Very new right?!

Never be reluctant to try something different

 My previous experience of giving a peer education session (I blogged about it here) inspired me to prepare many other youth to do the same. Soon a number of my close friends became involved, they took part in various workshops and slowly began holding sessions for other youth, the initiative grew and now with START NGO and UNFPA we are making it happen.

and it is show time! A role play activity with much benefit

 The group that I have been working with in the last four days are great in so many ways. I am already feeling emotional knowing that tomorrow work with this group will end, although I feel and know that we have planted in them a seed for the future. I know I will see them in great places doing great differences in the days, months and years to come. Tonight, I must admit I am very proud of myself and the team that I work with.Through interactive games and activities we manage to build a friendly atmosphere that the youth can learn a lot from.

Groups discuss their conclusions

During the breaks they often refuse to go out, instead we sit on the floor and sing. Few of the participants have great voices; one of the girls in particular has a voice that can produce a world's best seller album. We manage to write little compliments to each other and place it in the paper male boxes we have created, we play energizers when we feel we can't take in the raw information anymore and we share our stories and experiences. At the same time we are learning and studying, in a fun, youth friendly way. 

Group work!

 I can sit down and blog about each of the participants, about their personalities, their life and everything that I see in them. Here we are, 32 young people (17 in my group) have been waking up 7 every morning and going home at 5:30 just to be able to gain the knowledge and the technique so that they can voluntarily go and change other young people's lives. Now this is dedication. This is the type of young people that I love to surround myself with.

Sharing some laughs!!! :)

 We are training this group of youth to be peer educators specializing in family relations. So after 40 hours of training this group will get their certificates from the UNFPA and will then start going off in groups of two or three and start holding sessions for youth all over Erbil. 

Somethings in life are priceless, like this smile!

The greatest thing about this project is that often young people get a chance to talk and express; to speak of their thoughts and express their emotions. I often get a true insight into their lives, their confrontations, challenges and also their plans for the future.

Know this face well, she's Kurdistan's future leader!

This is Kurdistan, and this is the Erbil that I live in today!!

LIVE FROM ERBIL: Cha with maam Khalil

Helloooo Helllooooo Helllooooooo!!!!
Yes! Yes! Yes! Back in Kurdistan. And how lucky are you my dearest Loyal Reader because once again you'll be part of the journey! EXCITING!!!!

Maam (uncle) Khalil and I in one of the best days in my life

When my friend NQ says "I am taking you out" I know ahead of time it is going to be a day that I will never forget. This time was no different. What a day it was!!

We were walking through the maze of the Qaysari Bazaar in Erbil, the sweetest NQ in the world finally said "we are here!" I looked up and there it was the little tea shop, small in size but greater than anything in the world in its significance.

Maam Khalil serving tea. According to him he has the best job in the world

We are two young girls, entering a chay khaana* in Erbil and it actually feels very normal. Outside there is a man playing on the saz and singing, with few others sitting with their tasbih and cha** talking, I am guessing it is about life, politics and everything in between. I must admit they look very intellectual and friendly.

Music and singing outside the chay khaana - tea house in Erbil, Kurdistan

Inside I am amazed. This is not a chay khaana I think to myself, it is a museum. The walls have every single picture you can think of including Hitler, the ceiling is still as it was a hundred years ago, no renovations, no demolishing and renewing!

NQ looking at some of the pictures on the walls of the tea shop

Maam Khalil, the owner, who has worked  here since his childhood looks like the happiest man in the world. He moves around quickly serving tea- often three or four at once. I look at him and realize that serving tea is an art of its own. I feel like sitting next to the biggest celebrity in the world when he decides to come and sit next to me, NQ and little Nama. We talk briefly, after few minutes it feels like we know him all our life. Just like any celebrity he is in a rush to serve the next set of tea.

The outside of Maam Khalil's chay Khana in Erbil's Qaysari Bazaar.
(Yup still can't rotate!)

The hospitality in this chay Khaana is beyond any service you would get in any five star restaurant in the world. I love it. I tell NQ I wish I could bring my laptop here and write my articles, and my research papers. But I know too well though I feel very comfortable right now, somehow the idea is just a little too extreme.

I prefer for somethings in Kurdistan to never develop or modernize.
The greatest things are the simplest.

The happiness I felt earlier today was probably one of my happiest moments since my arrival in Erbil in 2006. It is not just the atmosphere here but the more I learn about maam Khalil, about his stories and about the chay khaana itself, the more respect I have for this man. Although I am also upset, there is a feeling of disappointment within me. Our modern day youth go and sit in coffee shops with hookah or in Costa[Ricca] socializing. I wish it could be done in places like this, in a chay khaana that is also a museum, that has culture, that has a unique atmosphere to it, and is fileld with history and is owned by a person who in his own way a role model. A man who loves his job, a man who is a role model in many ways. An elderly man who in his Kurdish clothes stands tall and strong, who insists you don't pay the 250 dinars for the greatest tea in the world!!

This says it all. One of the pictures on the wall. This, my most Loyal Reader is LOVE

My dream: One day, when I have made enough money to open a chay khaana like this one, I want to make it so that every girl can come and enjoy a special atmosphere that inspires her to write, to draw, and do everything she likes to do. I want it just like this, I want the walls to be covered with inspirational pictures, pieces of art, writing and for it to be affordable for the least privileged as well. I will make it happen, one day.

Meanwhile if you step foot in Erbil and don't visit maam Khalil's chay khaana then sorry to say you are no longer my Loyal Reader!!!! :)

I just don't want to leave. I can come here everyday.

All pictures taken by either me or N. Qaradaxi

*Kurdish word for tea shop
*Tasbih refers to rosary beads and cha is the Kurdish word for tea

This entry was written a while back, but I just had not posted it. So I thought this is the right time as I have just returned to Erbil again. And yes NQ is the best!

Changing people’s lives 3,037 miles away

GUEST BLOGGER

 Ruwayda Mustafa & Sazan M. Mandalawi

Dear Reader,

You might be surprised that this post is not by Sazan Mandalawi. Those who regularly follow this blog are all aware that guest bloggers often make an appearance on this blog.

Today Sazan and myself went out in Euston, listened to Jazz music and enjoyed delicious Italian coffee (Not quite as good as Ahmadi chai, which Sazan relishes, but it was close enough).

I’ve known Sazan for a while. I knew her before she found out I, Ruwayda, on the other side of earth, approximately 3,037 miles away (according to Google Map) from Hewler follow her blog. 

I didn’t start out as a Kurdish blogger. I read Sazan’s blog, and it was intriguing to see someone blog from Kurdistan about Kurdish things - not political but simply cultural. It made me happy and excited that someone would take interest in my culture, and that other Kurdish people similar to me exist!

You see, we don’t have many Kurdish bloggers who consistently blog on Kurdish related things. In the past three years we have seen a great number of new bloggers, marking their spot online and on social networking sites. It thrills me to see new Kurdish bloggers. We are a growing active online community.

Who imagined this 10 years ago, I didn’t (perhaps I couldn’t because I was 12 years old and Twitter didn’t exist). 

Blogging about Kurdish culture and society changes the lives of many people and those who blog often don’t know the impact of what they write. As a blogger you have an independent voice, a secure platform, and (to some extent) anonymity to write freely. 

Here’s a little gem for those who haven’t seen it. Sazan started blogging on 8 September 2008. She started her first blogpost with lyrics to Delta Goodrem’s song ‘Born to try’. 

Be a Kurdish Blogger, change the world!

--

Sazan: Thank you Ruwayda. One of the success of this blog is that I have been able to get in touch with so many young people with much motivation, energy and inspiration! I still remember our initial email exchanges they started with 'salam' and ended with 'regards' now they start with 'kcheeee' and end with 'btkozhm' ..... 

Live from Erbil- A dream comes true

To the greatest, most loyal and loveliest blog reader in the world!
Am kataw hamw katekt khosh!
What a day! Today felt like my dream was coming true. I was the happiest person you could ever think of. I felt like a bird flying in the sky…. (Okay I think I need to calm down, but baxwa today was incredible!).

The day began like this. At the garden of Mali Xanda, smiling but deep down had some worries that it might not work out

It all began a few weeks back when I had to explain to my children* in Mali Xanda why I had not seen them in so long. When they found out I had travelled abroad by a plane they began their fantasies and in the exact words my two daughters (Allah and Isra) had a dream to see a plane in real life. I tweeted it right then and there. It didn't take two days before I received a call from a friend who had read the tweet. This was our conversation:

Kak O: "Your kids want to go to the airport?"

Me: (Super excited voice) "yes! Yes! Yes!"

Kak O: I will try

Me: Promise me
Kak O: I won't promise. I will try.

Me: "Fine, but they need to go into the plane, not just visit the airport"

Kak O: (Thinking I am too selfish) coldly replied "I will try"

So the girls and I waited. Called. Waited. Got calls. I began to doubt.

[Two weeks later]

Kak O: Is tomorrow okay?
Me: (Super excited voice) "BARASTIIII?????^ Yes! Yes! Definitely okay!"

And then this was the story of today:

Sazan Mandalawi:

What a day! When I arrived all of them were in their best dresses, new

shoes, new dresses and all of them were super excited. I look for Isra
and Alla and I don’t see them. Their dad has taken them this week. I
am sad since they began this, they were the ones who first told me
their dream was to see a plane, realizing they were not there today
made me upset. But there was no time to think or be upset, we had a
mission.

I am sitting outside the orphanage the kids are on my lap, on my
shoulders… I am trying to explain how the plane looks like. After half
an hour the kids run of patience and my heart begins missing beats a
little nervous that EIA might say “no” phone calls come and go. We
decided to sit down and write little thank you notes to Kak O. who
made all this possible. It takes one phone call: ‘day waren’ I call
out ‘ba broyn’ and before I know it the room is empty and everyone is
near the mini van.

day sarkawn! Lets go!

Step closer to a dream coming true

Bewar:

Bewar most patient with the kids who cried, some were actually scared of the plane

As we started getting into the mini van, there our little kids began
explain their imagination, how a airplane would look like, when they
were asked what we use airplane for Hama and Mubin both 5 in age said
it is used for boys. In the car Daroon kept saying that she won’t come
into the airplane, she is terrified of plane, all the way to the
airplane she wept and I could tell that there was no way she would
ever get in to it, no matter how much other kids encouraged her said
they were not afraid and were excited to see the plane but nothing
would change her mind, later they were taken to a tour around the
airport showing them all around. I have learned from Mali Xanda that
making someone’s dream come true gives you the best feeling in the
world, looking at the excitement on the kids faces, the kids whom we
have been with for years was something beyond the power of words.

Inside Erbil International Airport

Ashna Shareff:

As I look at the kids and I realize how excited and happy they are
thinking about the trip to the airplane and I remember myself exactly
at their age, when I used to hold in my heart simple dreams. I
remembered the time when I used to watch movies, the planes flying in
the air, wishing I was right there in the plane flying in the air.
Today time took me back to those times when I was a little. I look
into the eyes of those kids and I see in them the world I used to
imagine when I was in their age, their eyes sparkling, their heart
dancing from joy. And then all of the sudden, I come back to the real
world, I see everywhere around little faces. One of the kids was
jumping from happiness, telling other kids that someday he is going to
become a pilot, another holding my hand terrified to get on to the
plane. And I smile because I know here I share with them those feeling
of excitement, and fear. I hold their hands, and together we walk, I
look at their dream right in front of us, knowing years from now I
will remember this moment. I will remember that I shared their dream.

Seatbelts fastened! They had the entire experience of travelling

Ruwayda Mustafah Rabar:

Lets go to Europe! Everyone took to their seats, and put their
seatbelts on, all anxious to see what the next step was, and where we
will be going. I wished to tell them that we’re all on our way to
Disney Land and that we’re going to have a great time there. Little
Aya who initially ran into my arms crying saying she was not allowed
to come (who is known to be a bit of a cheeky girl, sort of like me)
was the most spirited throughout the journey. One day, we will not
just sit on the plane for five minutes with big smiles but we will
fasten our seatbelts and fly out of the nest!

At our arrival to the airport, everyone is super excited

Close up.... we are minutes away from entering the plane

The story of these two brothers and sisters is a long and sad one, but their smile was worth the entire world today

Dreams come true in Kurdistan with Erbil International Airport and some dedicated individuals

Me (Sazan) posting pictures and Ruwayda adding comments!

Hamma gyan- he loves cars, planes and everything that is fast and speedy!

They were excited, but scared too. Some of them held our hands tightly

Sazan:

The kids did little thank you notes for Kak O and the airport staff....

Dear Kak O- while you preferred to remain behind the scenes, even though you made all this possible. From here I want to tell you that all those children who sleep with dreams, who will sleep tonight with a smile, who will sleep feeling loved, they will sleep thinking about their great day… it is because of you! I am sure if they could see you and if they could express they would tell you: ZOR SUPAS for making our dreams come true!

Thank you Kak O., thank you to all the great staff in Erbil International Airport, starting from the head of security all the way to the guards who were smiling the entire time. Thank you to the greatest Ruwayda, sweetest Ashna and the most special Bewar. I could not have asked for better friends in Hawler than you three. You make every mission possible. You make every job easy. Thank you for cancelling all your day's plans and making this a reality.

we had the entire bus to ourselves! Thank you Erbil International Airport

*They aren't really my kids. But the kids in Mali Xanda (the orphanage in Erbil) have become like my children, two of them in particular.

^ Kurdish word for really?!