"Religion is for God, but the world is for everyone"
The other conflict that there has been much talk about here is the potential "liberation" of Mosul from ISIS (known here as DAESH). The fears are for the 700,000 estimated to be displaced by the confrontation. We talked yesterday to a lovely lady called Ann Ward who works closely with the displaced persons already in camps around Sulemani. She was explaining that when DAESH leaves the people of Mosul will be screened before being allowed to move on. They will be held ISF under suspicions of supporting DAESH and maybe be tortured and killed. However DEASH will have been threatening these people constantly with death it they do not join or support them. As it grows closer to Winter here the danger for these people grows, their is simply not the resources ready to support that many in the refugee camps being built and planned. In fact their is only enough for 1/3 of the estimated numbers. These camps are also the first ever UNHCR camps to be closed camps. A German priest we met today talked about how we really need to be careful of these sort of conditions, likening it to concentration camps. For me I thought of our Australian detention centers but so much worse.
Yesterday we visited two camps, one for IDP's (Internally Displaced Persons) and one for Syrian refugees. Both where closed camps and much organizing has to take place before we could visit.
The camp for IDP's is not meant to be permanent and they gave issues with getting enough water. There was a peace garden that Ann has helped set up that was as dry as a bone and the water tank lay crushed inside the fence.
We spoke to Sheikh Mustafa and a mullah, Ahmed, and met his beautiful children. They are Sunni and when DAESH came through their home village they came through the Sunni part first before the Shia part of town.
After two years the sheikh and his family are still at the camp because they are having difficulty negotiating their return. The Shia community blames the Sunni for ISIS because they came from their direction. They are attacking the Sheikh's community to pay retribution for damages and lives lost. But the sheikh and his community do not gave the money. When we talked further be said that the Sunni and Shia used to get on fine in that area and in fact it is the Shia governing that want them to pay not the actual community. The government asks them why did they not fight DAESH? but the Sheikh said, we have no weapons, they are the government, it is their job to protect us . In fact it is the hardest for Sunni people as the army (ISF and Iranian forces) is mostly Shia and they will do little to protect Sunni communities. Sometimes DAESH will come and flatten a community as then because it was Sunni the ISF will come through and flatten it again.
The Sheik spoke for a long time to is about how be views Islam and his hope for Iraq and the world. 'We are sad when we hear people around the world gave has bad things happen to them because of Terrorism. We have a saying that the birds and trees and animals are sad every time blood is dropped from a person... Religion is for God but the world is for everyone'. He spoke about how the conditions in the camp were really hard as their are no trees and they cannot leave. At the end of the tea the women in the group were taken to meet his wife, a lovely lady who he told us helped him so much to be strong in the camp.
The second camp we visited were Syrian refugees. These were more permanent dwellings. A long dusty road ran down the front of the houses and two sick looking dogs pay at dirty puddles by the gate. Again we were welcomed into peoples homes and they offered us tea and sweets. We squeezed into a living room space adorned with a wedding photo and in one corner a slightly bent Christmas tree. As guests we were ushered into the best seats, away from the door. There was so many of us and we seemed so white. One of our hosts asked us, 'what are you doing here, what programs are you here to run?' We looked at each other and i think we all wondered for a moment the exact same thing. We weren't there to fun programs, we were meant to be listening and learning about the issue. But he asked us why we couldn't talk to refugees in our own countries, why not reading the news? Why come all this way? It struck me, this question, as one i had been asking myself ever since deciding to come on this delegation, why? Is it poverty tourism? Is it the white savior complex? Is it a doubting Thomas thing of needing to see it first hand? I spoke briefly to the room of the feelings of overwhelming helplessness and disconnect when you hear these stories, or see the pictures but are a million miles away. But does that mean I was there to make it more real for myself? What did that even mean? I guess none of us had satisfying answers and squirmed under the gaze of these intelligent, capable people who has been through so much and weren't willing to simply entertain a few more privileged westerners.
I make it sound like they hated us but they were very kind and took us to see the mosque where we prayed and talked to the mullah. I really enjoyed the trip and I actually left with hope because I loved their defiance of stereotypes and that they did not keep us comfortable. They said in Sep 11 5000 people died, here 5000 people did every day. One of the young Kurdish men who came with us said, 'In the middle east we have a deep psychological problem, and we cannot just blame the west, we need to fix this ourselves not look for a white savior, that is fucking bullshit'. At another point one of the Syrian men said, 'what can I do? Why am I stuck here with no home? How can I talk with my son of the future? Where is the hope?'
But I saw hope in the way they talked. I saw it in their ideas and in their interactions.
As we left we saw the giant words painted in Arabic on the wall next to the mosque, 'one day we will go home'.
I know that these people will change the world, they have much too much vibrancy not to.
On reflection I know that the reason I am here is a mixture of God's call in my life and to simply learn about CPT. I am on a journey to find out if there is a way for me to work for peace in the world.
Yesterday we visited two camps, one for IDP's (Internally Displaced Persons) and one for Syrian refugees. Both where closed camps and much organizing has to take place before we could visit.
The camp for IDP's is not meant to be permanent and they gave issues with getting enough water. There was a peace garden that Ann has helped set up that was as dry as a bone and the water tank lay crushed inside the fence.
We spoke to Sheikh Mustafa and a mullah, Ahmed, and met his beautiful children. They are Sunni and when DAESH came through their home village they came through the Sunni part first before the Shia part of town.
After two years the sheikh and his family are still at the camp because they are having difficulty negotiating their return. The Shia community blames the Sunni for ISIS because they came from their direction. They are attacking the Sheikh's community to pay retribution for damages and lives lost. But the sheikh and his community do not gave the money. When we talked further be said that the Sunni and Shia used to get on fine in that area and in fact it is the Shia governing that want them to pay not the actual community. The government asks them why did they not fight DAESH? but the Sheikh said, we have no weapons, they are the government, it is their job to protect us . In fact it is the hardest for Sunni people as the army (ISF and Iranian forces) is mostly Shia and they will do little to protect Sunni communities. Sometimes DAESH will come and flatten a community as then because it was Sunni the ISF will come through and flatten it again.
The Sheik spoke for a long time to is about how be views Islam and his hope for Iraq and the world. 'We are sad when we hear people around the world gave has bad things happen to them because of Terrorism. We have a saying that the birds and trees and animals are sad every time blood is dropped from a person... Religion is for God but the world is for everyone'. He spoke about how the conditions in the camp were really hard as their are no trees and they cannot leave. At the end of the tea the women in the group were taken to meet his wife, a lovely lady who he told us helped him so much to be strong in the camp.
The second camp we visited were Syrian refugees. These were more permanent dwellings. A long dusty road ran down the front of the houses and two sick looking dogs pay at dirty puddles by the gate. Again we were welcomed into peoples homes and they offered us tea and sweets. We squeezed into a living room space adorned with a wedding photo and in one corner a slightly bent Christmas tree. As guests we were ushered into the best seats, away from the door. There was so many of us and we seemed so white. One of our hosts asked us, 'what are you doing here, what programs are you here to run?' We looked at each other and i think we all wondered for a moment the exact same thing. We weren't there to fun programs, we were meant to be listening and learning about the issue. But he asked us why we couldn't talk to refugees in our own countries, why not reading the news? Why come all this way? It struck me, this question, as one i had been asking myself ever since deciding to come on this delegation, why? Is it poverty tourism? Is it the white savior complex? Is it a doubting Thomas thing of needing to see it first hand? I spoke briefly to the room of the feelings of overwhelming helplessness and disconnect when you hear these stories, or see the pictures but are a million miles away. But does that mean I was there to make it more real for myself? What did that even mean? I guess none of us had satisfying answers and squirmed under the gaze of these intelligent, capable people who has been through so much and weren't willing to simply entertain a few more privileged westerners.
I make it sound like they hated us but they were very kind and took us to see the mosque where we prayed and talked to the mullah. I really enjoyed the trip and I actually left with hope because I loved their defiance of stereotypes and that they did not keep us comfortable. They said in Sep 11 5000 people died, here 5000 people did every day. One of the young Kurdish men who came with us said, 'In the middle east we have a deep psychological problem, and we cannot just blame the west, we need to fix this ourselves not look for a white savior, that is fucking bullshit'. At another point one of the Syrian men said, 'what can I do? Why am I stuck here with no home? How can I talk with my son of the future? Where is the hope?'
But I saw hope in the way they talked. I saw it in their ideas and in their interactions.
As we left we saw the giant words painted in Arabic on the wall next to the mosque, 'one day we will go home'.
I know that these people will change the world, they have much too much vibrancy not to.
On reflection I know that the reason I am here is a mixture of God's call in my life and to simply learn about CPT. I am on a journey to find out if there is a way for me to work for peace in the world.