Good Morning from Baghdad, A City of Peace

September 25^, 2013, Baghdad, Iraq

We were received by one of the young Iraqi volunteers, who took us to the hotel. As soon as we went out on Baghdad’s streets, I felt a sense of familiarity. We drove to the hotel on the morning’s rush hour. We were exhausted, but extremely happy to be in Baghdad. We hadn’t slept much, as our flight was in the middle of the night. Baghdad had the air of any other of the Arab capitals, Amman, Beirut, and Cairo; except for all the checkpoints and military cars.

Once we got to the hotel, all our colleagues were already waiting; they were really happy to see us. It was very emotional, a meeting of old and new friends, that can’t believe they are reunited despite difficult conditions. We joined part of the last day training on advocacy for Iraqi activists, some of our colleagues from Spain had organized the training to strengthen the skills of activists that are organizing campaigns for human rights in Iraq, teaching them communication skills, listening, team work, and how to build strategies, organize resources and identify needs.

The day was slow, with many of the international activists arriving at different times. I stayed in the training listening to my colleagues from the Save the Tigris campaign, and how they identified resources and needs, set goals, and timelines, and then developed strategies to achieve the desired goal.

Then, I went to take a nap, and then joined the group once more. The young volunteers were ready and eager to help, if they saw that I was listening, they will come close to me and started to translate what had being said in Arabic.

If I try to describe these young Iraqis, they are not different to other youth around the world. Well, the only difference might be that they have a different appreciation about life. The sense that they are here today, but they don’t know if they will be here tomorrow. They are children of the war, the latest war; some of them were so young, that they might not remember how things were before the war. Yet, this experience has transformed them into what they are and what they believe, that Iraq can be a place of freedom and peace. You only have to sit with them to feel their positive vibrations. Some days ago, when I opened my Facebook, one of my Iraqi friends post read: Good Morning from Baghdad of peace- Sabah al khair min Baghdad al Salaam. I just smiled and I thought: this is why I have to go to Baghdad.

I’m not saying there are no risks; there are risks in every decision you make. When I went to Palestine, when I participated in a peaceful demonstration in Beit Ommar that was teargased by Israeli soldiers, when I went to south Iraq, Basra, Babel, Nasriya, Najaf, all these times there were risks, but I was with locals and I felt protected by them. There is no sense of security that a convoy, a tank, or armed guards can give you; on the contrary, they make you a target. I felt safer wearing a hijab, or an abayah (a traditional black women dress) and following the locals’ advice. Three months ago, I was in Babel, and saw the Babilonian Lion, the Ishtar Gate (the replica, the original is at a German museum), went to Ur, sat by the Euphrates and the Tigris River, navigated on the Mesopotamian marshes, and felt completely safe, trusting my colleagues and knowing they will put me in any danger.

In the next few days I hope to see another Baghdad, a Baghdad full of energy and hope, of dreams of peace and unity. That might not be the Baghdad portrayed in the media, because what they mostly show is blood and killings. I think the mainstream media will not show news of the Iraqi Social Forum, but I will try to convey this other Baghdad through my experience, my thoughts and feelings as I take part in this historic event with the slogan “Another Iraq is Possible.”

The anxiety of the trip has gone, and now I am happy to be in Baghdad, to show solidarity with Iraqis, to support their work and to bring a message from abroad that Iraqis are not forgotten, the work of justice is not easy, but that they are not alone. There are people out there doing the same in their own countries, because the work of building a country relies on the citizens of that country. Democracy comes, not with occupation by a foreign country, but when its citizens work actively to build a strong civil society that can support democratic institutions. How do you build democracy in a country destroyed by war, that is using religion as an instrument of division? You have to stop supporting the propaganda that uses terror and sectarianism and support that part of society that believes in the values of inclusiveness, social justice, freedom of expression, workers rights, and the protection of the environment. These are the principles that the Iraqi Social Forum promotes. These are the values that Iraqi activists have been working hard to shape, using sports, art and culture to unite Iraqis. These are the things I believe that will hold Iraq together and that is why I came to Baghdad, because I believe that if we support these principles, a peaceful Iraq can be a reality.

Two weeks, lots of tea and too much to handle in Kurdistan, 122710--Ankawa-Erbil, Iraq

Today it has been two weeks since I have been in Iraq. The first couple of days, I just felt out of place, just I wanted to go back; no friends, missing family, nowhere to go after work, I couldn’t even feel the spirit of Christmas. I was so sad and I cried every single day for the first 5 days, I felt completely disconnected. I had so many illusions to be in Iraq, and was so excited to come here, the cradle of civilization, the land of Abraham, Babylon, the Sumerians, the Assyrians, Baghdad, the center of the Islamic world in the 12th century and I was finally here and nothing was clicking. I knew it was just a process, that it was going to be all right, that it was normal to be sad, (I never felt like that in Palestine), but I could not stop crying, I guess after 6 months, and another holiday away from home, everything was finally hitting me.

For the first time in 6 months, after sleeping on a tent, on the floor, on the kitchen, and not having a specific place to sleep, I have my own room, even when its temporary. Despite having my amazing kingdom, I was still sad; the feeling of being alone and far away from home, and the fact that I couldn’t do anything on my own made me very frustrated. I just went to work, was sad all day and went back to the house, sat on my bed to cry. Now, I realize how helpless it feels to be displaced, to depend on others to fulfill your most basic needs like eating, or just getting back home. I know how vulnerable one feels and even I can’t compare my situation, but MAYBE this is how refugees and internally displaced people (IDP’s) here in Iraq feel. The feeling of powerlessness not being able to be self-sufficient, having to depend on the government or on NGO’s to fulfill their needs for housing, food, water.

My co-workers were trying to make me feel at home, playing Spanish music and they even got me a Christmas tree and we mounted it and put some lights on it. That was so sweet. I have been drinking a lot of tea too, tea at all times and in EVERY place and with a lot of sugar, I guess that's why you see my face a little bit more round. At work, most of the people in the organization is Kurdish, but there are 2 girls that are Arab. One of my co-workers is one girl from Baghdad. She moved here 4 years ago, running away from the sectarian violence between Sunni-Shi’a that was at its peak around 2006-2007. She is a very lively and outspoken girl, she told me that her father cannot find a job because he cannot speak Kurdish and also he was from a different political ideology, but that he receives some money from Baghdad. The other girl that works with me is originally from Mosul, but she and her family lived in Syria, also because of the sectarian violence. She told me that her sister husband was kidnapped but was able to escape because he opened the trunk where they put him. He just took a taxi to the Syrian border and waited there for his documents to be able to enter into Syria. I met another guy that was also from Baghdad that told me that they lived here because his father was kidnapped and that they were lucky that he is alive, after they paid $150,000. “We are lucky that my family has money” he said.

There is a cool mixture of Arabic-Kurdish language, you have to pay close attention, because in a second they change from one to the other. I can't figure the Iraqi-Arabic and it feels as if I don't know any Arabic at all. Some of the Kurds speak Arabic and vice versa, it’s a very interesting mixture, but not everyone speaks both languages. Also there have been some historical clashes between the Arabs and Kurds, so its not like they are so close, but now with the war, there is a lot of internal migration to the north, because is a more stable area, an area that has not been touch by the war, and now is blossoming with development and outside investment. There is around 1 million Arabs and 4 million Kurdish in the Iraqi-Kurdistan, curiously, the same ratio of Palestinians to Israelis living inside Israel.

I’ve been reading a lot of UN reports about the situation in Iraq. There are about 1.5 million people that have been internally displaced and around 1.5-2 million widows. About 10% of households in Iraq are headed by female. 1 in 5 children are illiterate. There are a lot of issues of violence against women, including honor killings, trafficking and female genital mutilation, a practice that is prevalent in 74% according to a Human Rights Watch report that I read. This is a country that has been suffering the devastating effects of war and UN sanctions for the past three decades. The Iran-Iraq war, the Gulf War followed by sanctions against that Saddam Hussein regime, then the US-led invasion, and as I read all these reports and the number of people, especially women and children that are the most vulnerable, I just ask myself WHY?????? Why our money has gone to support all these years of suffering, occupation, violence. Well, I know WHY!!! It is because of the greed of a few that want to control the energy resources of this part of the world. Because of that Iraqis are displaced, they cannot travel freely to other countries; they cannot visit other parts of the world, because their country s blacklisted, and they are seen as possible terrorists. I CAN, because I have the blessing of being born American with all the benefits and opportunities that the Empire brings. An Iraqi has the damnation of being born in a country of terror and war, and therefore s/he carries the mark wherever s/he goes.

My organization, the Women Empowerment Organization, has a couple of projects including awareness and empowerment of women and youth, we run a small business development center, to train young people to start their own businesses. We just have finish setting up a radio station and we have a hotline to serve women victims of violence, we are also planning literacy courses to target the widow women and to engage them in income generating projects to make them self sufficient and economically empowered. So here I start a new year with a new learning experience, lots of projects for the future and lots of hope for the people of Iraq.

Welcome to the Womens Club in Arrabeh Village, 09-30-10--Galilee, Israel

We were welcomed in the village of Arrabeh, by five wonderful women. It is a Palestinian village in the Galilee in Israel, one hour away from Haifa. The majority of its 20,000 inhabitants are Muslim. There, we had a meeting with women of the village that have been organizing and gathering now for 2 years. Their group was born out of an empowerment course that was sponsored by Kayan. We heard how their lives were changed after they participated in this group. The women, mothers, wives and now active part of the community, told us how hard is for women to come out of the house and become active.

Two women from the Arrabeh womens group


One of the women told us how, before Kayan's workshop, she had never been out of the house, always busy with her 7 children. “It was hard to get out of the house. Women are not used to get out and participate and volunteer outside of house. It took a while because of the 7 children. I came to make my friend happy. But after some lectures I was convinced by the topics, they were very interesting. They strengthened my personality, gave me self-confidence, I found something to dress up. The way I talked to people changed, after the empowerment training, I was able to convince my husband. The entire village now knows about the group” says the woman.

Reem one of the community organizers from Kayan, which provides support to the group


The women were clear that keeping the group together was not an easy process, but they were able to gain the respect of people. There were internal problems that almost caused the group to break up, but at the end they overcame them. One of the women, one of the few Christians in the village, got a call from one of the religious leaders of the village to address the women’s group discuss strategies to talk to the authorities. This shows that their work with the community has made them gain the respect of other community leaders, crossing the religious borders.

Another woman said “I knew that the work was serious, and I was going to get something important for myself. I dedicated my life to my children and now I wanted something for myself. I needed the empowerment course”. As the conversation moved on, women started to open up and share more personal things. One of them shared that she wanted to become a nurse, but she saw her dream shattered by the fact that women are not allowed to go out of the house, so she quit school because what was the point of finishing high school if there was no option to go to university. Now, she says, she regrets. Now, she is encouraging her daughters to complete their education, because she now knows the importance of it. She wants to raise her children to have opportunities, like she didn’t have. She now is working on finishing high school and getting her diploma. It is basic to get any job, here in Israel.

The women from Arrabeh were very happy to share their experiences with us, in English and Arabic


As the women started to meet after the empowerment course, they started to assess the needs of the women in the community. They realized that despite the age, the women’s needs were the same; they had the same frustrations, the problem of restriction, and the same concern across all ages.

The women organized an event and went to the neighborhood to invite people personally. It was a very important event for them because every woman had the opportunity to stand on the microphone and speak about what the group did for them. They were not sure if the people on the village will come and they were nervous. They put up 300 chairs for the event and Rafah, Kayan’s community organizer was a little skeptical and told them to remove some of the chairs. After 15 minutes, people started to show up, and all the chairs that they took out, they had to put them back. The event was a complete success. The women are very thankful to Kayan, for giving them the space to think and plan on their own.

Now their challenge is to achieve more at the local level with the authorities, their next project is to find a space to have a women’s center. They want a place for them, to meet, to have programs. Now, they do lectures and programs, but is very challenging to find a place that suits their needs. They want to offer courses like Hebrew, computer skills for the women and even First Aid.



The women’s stories were powerful and spoke to the heart. They also spoke of the realities of other women in this village and many other villages that Kayan is working. It shows that is possible to change the realities on the ground, step by step. It just takes a group of women that believe that change is possible and that are willing to take responsibility. Lastly, there was one question about when will there be elected women involved in politics in Arrabi, and although there was some skepticism, some women ventured to say that maybe 10, 15 years. These women are an inspiration to me and show me the real face of the struggle. They give me some hope when I think that it is impossible to change this very complex situation. I hope to come back to Arrabeh, if they have another meeting while I’m here!!!! There was such a positive energy here today……

These women are an inspiration and show what women are capable of doing when they are empowered and working together