Redwan Adalat - Humans of Kurdistan

in Humans of South

“I finished my education without having much fortune and had to work while in school. I have had a lot of difficulties in my life, but I have been able to stand it all just so I can have a better future. I will never forget the first time I received a salary, the feeling is indescribable because I was holding on to a thread in life. Life has changed a lot now, many things have even gotten harder. I used to think about how I can make my life better with the salary I had, but I was never able to put some of that money away for the future. One day at work, they brought in a young man who had committed suicide because of an argument with his father, and when I saw his car keys still attached to him, wearing expensive clothes and cologne, right there I realized that money doesn't buy you happiness.” ...

Dec 25 2020

December 25, 2020

in Humans of East

“I don't believe that I have lost anything important so far in life and I know that I'm still young, but when that "Pride" car became as expensive as 100 million Toman, I was very upset. To reach my goals the future is very important to me because committing to those goals and promises I made to myself made me live far away from my family and my love. I fear God, and human’s stupidity while they are hungry. I think that anyone who has data or information shouldn't just keep them for themselves, they should share what they know so other people benefit from it as well. That's life for me, as well as have their creator in mind because he is the one who has provided everything for us humans. Sports have changed my life, and so I tell everyone to do sports even if it's for twenty seconds a day. Whenever you know the science about something then we should discuss it, if we thought that talking is useless and we don't agree on thoughts, then we should just leave the discussion without agreeing.” ...

Dec 24 2020

December 24, 2020

“I was born in the 1970s in a village close to Amuda city. I was raised there and studied in the elementary school until I got to third grade. Our school had no girls except for me and my cousin because they thought that education is only for boys. There was a stigma for girls in education according to the culture of our village, and most of the girls in our family didn't go to school. Therefore, my father decided that we go and live in Hasaka so we are far away from that culture and we finish our education. We spoke Kurdish in our village, and it was difficult to communicate in Hasaka because I couldn't speak much Arabic. This made me try even harder to study, and I actually was among the top students at that school. In high school, I started loving to write short stories, but I hadn't told anyone but my father because I wasn't very good at it. During final exams, I was going back to our village to study because it was quiet and suitable for studying”. “During that time, whenever I used to go outside for studying a woman from the village would come up to me and tell me to continue studying, and was also telling me about her problems. Saying how her husband and her husband's family are pushing her because she wasn't able to get pregnant, and many more problems. We became friends that way, but after a while, I was informed that due to those problems she had, she had committed suicide. I was really affected by this, and it became a reason for me to go out there and show that I exist. I wrote a story on that woman and all the trouble she had gone through, but I didn't publish it. I finished high school with a good grade, I got accepted to college and was able to travel to the capital, but my grandfather didn't accept it because he couldn't let me leave as a young single girl to a distant place, and I accepted that. I went to a teaching institute in Hasakah, I finished it and was one of the top students.” “I was employed in a school near our house, my former classmates were jealous of me then, but I wanted to work in a distant place so I can meet new people, go to new places, and improve my writing. I secretly kept writing fantasy and stories, but kept it hidden fearing my society wouldn't accept a female writer. I then got married, and my husband accepted me being a writer. He really supported me, and encouraged me to publish my writings in publications, after my father, he was the second person to support me. I then started publishing what I was writing. I used to first write fantasy, but I found out that I am a better writer if I write about reality, I then started writing about Qamishli, Hasakah, life,...

Dec 23 2020

December 23, 2020

in Humans of East

“When I was a teenager studying in high school I was really into sports, and the days where we had sports classes, I was especially playing volleyball and basketball. One day I was playing basketball, and my friends were playing heavy ball right next to our field, and suddenly one of the balls was thrown into the basketball, and I tried to help by throwing it back and out of nowhere someone grabbed my hand. I realized that it was our teacher. He asked me how long I have been practicing heavy ball without him knowing. He said that my friends have been practicing for six months, and that my throw went 5 meters further. I told him that I had never practiced it, and he said that heavy ball was a suitable sport for me. Ever since, I started playing heavy ball, and I was very successful in it, I even was rewarded several times”. ...

Dec 22 2020

December 22, 2020

“Due to my love for fixing radios and electronics, I quit school. My father had a shop for agricultural medicine, and I was going there with him, but I was not staying at the shop because I wanted to spend time at the next-door shop that was fixing TVs and ask questions, and I learned a lot this way. At the beginning, I failed a lot and couldn't fix anything, but I started to learn and succeed later on. When I first started, channel receiver devices were few and were expensive so I built a device that could search for local Kurdish channels. There used to be a channel called Med TV, I was able to get the channel for my village and it made everyone happy, that was my first achievement. As I've gotten old, I cannot do the same work anymore because it has affected my sight. I have had a lot of job offers from European countries, but I will never leave my country”. ...

Dec 22 2020

December 22, 2020

in Humans of South

“Kurdish Jamdani and hat are an important part of my job, as well as an important part of our culture. My father started this job in the nineties, and then was handled by my brother, and now I do the same work. We have many different types of Jamdani, some of which is for the younger people to wear with clothes, and the older models are for older people. There is another type that is famous among tourists. In 2003, when the Americans came, they were buying Jamdanis and were taking them back home. A lot of the time we see our products in social media that was published in other countries saying they have bought these products in Kurdistan, and that makes is very happy”. ...

Dec 21 2020

December 21, 2020

“I liked photography ever since I was a kid, I started taking photos with a mobile phone at first, but then I started working at a TV channel and I accumulated some money to buy a camera. I do videography for Amuda TV, but I like photography more. I like taking portraits of people who have lived a long life and have experienced a lot. Most of the time, I sit down with them and listen to their stories, so they become my friends. The story of every photo I take stays with me, and a lot of the time I print the photos and give them back to the people as a gift. What I do makes people happy, and I am very proud of what I do. My dream is to have a lot of photography equipment, open up a shop and take photographs in events. For now, I'd like to exhibit my photos in a gallery as a first step”. ...

Dec 21 2020

December 21, 2020

in Humans of South

“When I was young, I was doing contracting work with a nephew of mine, for 7 dinars per day, and some days we were transporting goods, I was taking grapes from Shadala to beyond Kirkuk. I spent all of my youth working, but I felt like the world was mine. I got married in an old traditional way (exchanging brides). The distance between Homarqawm and Shadala is about half an hour. I built a home for us, but when my wife passed away, there was not much to live for. I don't have the same energy anymore. I had everything when she was with me, but lost everything when she passed away”. ...

Dec 20 2020

December 20, 2020

“I have spent my childhood in the city, but I didn't like it there and I couldn't work so I went back to our village, and as everyone else there I became a shepherd. After a while, I built a stable and had several horses because I was fascinated with them, I also have several deer. I also have land for vegetables as well. I use four of my horses for racing, and one of them took first place in Jizira region. That horse was beautiful, and also powerful so I named it Haloy Felbaz (Tricky Eagle). Unfortunately, it passed away due to illness and that really upset me. I have now bought a new horse and have named it Gardalul (Storm), and is currently participating in races. I love and care for my horses as they are my own kids”. ...

Dec 20 2020

December 20, 2020

in Humans of East

“When I was in high school, I always had doubts why my parents' families where always around and where always talking about me. However, when I got to university, I realized that both of the families wanted me to marry someone they had chosen. One of the boys I knew in that family was always in my heart because a relative of mine had put in my head that I'd marry him, I had limited myself only to him as a kid, I never even talked with boys because I had believed that I was for him. I stayed that way until he finally proposed and I was the happiest girl alive. My mother had refuted this marriage from the beginning, but then she said that we were young and looked good together, so we had her blessings. After a while into our marriage, it slowly turned out that he didn't have a good past, and neither us nor his family knew about it unfortunately. Even though most of my age was waisted, but I'm thankful still because God loved me dearly. After that marriage I couldn't commit to any other man, and I gave all of my time to studying and working, and I am doing very well now”. ...

Dec 19 2020

December 19, 2020