Humans of East - Humans of Kurdistan

“I never understood why grown ups don't find playing amusing, or why they constantly say sit down to the kids. Now that it is a holiday season, all what we have is playing games. What else do we have to do? Since the breakout of COVID19, I haven't seen my classmates, we haven't played football even once. I was attending my classes online alone with my mother, and I really didn't like those days. Now that school has come to an end, we have come to our farm in the hopes of staying away from COVID19. My mother always tells me that I have played so much under the sun that my skin color has darkened.” ...

Sep 22 2020

September 22, 2020

“I have always wanted to treat my child as a friend rather than just as a parent. I wouldn't want my child to be shy to talk to me, or be afraid of me. I don't want to treat my child the way many other parents treat their kids. Now I have a son and I am a father, I have always tried to be his friend and make him comfortable with me. We have a great relationship, I have let him to tell me whatever he wants without holding anything back, and I always listen to him and get him what he needs. Hakan is very comfortable when I am around; he treats me his own friends. I would really love it if he could go to either medical school or become a teacher and work away from the bazaar.” ...

Sep 20 2020

September 20, 2020

“I have 3 wives, and I have 20 kids and now we are 102 family members. I have struggled a lot both in Iraq and Iran, so I really regret it that I got married 3 times. Now I care about 102 people everyday. I looked very handsome as a teenager I couldn't go out normally, but I have changed. I am seventy five now and if I were a bit more handsome I would get married once more. I'm really sad that I cannot get married for the fourth time. Previously, people loved it even when I said hi to them, now when I try to communicate, no one really even answers.” ...

Sep 16 2020

September 16, 2020

“God did not give us a child, and when God does not give, we cannot do anything about it. I have been married for 45 years and we have been living happily with my wife. However, we never experienced the feeling of having a child together. I am now old, I’m seventy seven years old, I can’t do any labor work anymore and that is why for about 3 years I have been working for someone taking care of their hand made bee hives. I work all month but three days for a low salary. My wife has several diseases and is now resting at home, sometimes she gets up and gets some work done. Despite all of this, as long as I am able to work, I am happy to stay like this. I have been stung by the bees many times, it is not an easy job to do and it is in fact very sensitive work. I don't really know that much about it but the owner knows a lot more.” ...

Sep 12 2020

September 12, 2020

“I've always had the desire to learn English, even as a kid. I was really interested in what people were saying while speaking English. My English was improving so I was eager to grow up and study English in college. I taught English in schools in Sna city for a long while. Learning a new language made me familiar with another part of the world's vocabulary and it made my eyes more open to the world. Back then, if I had the same mentality I have right now, I would study something else with the English language. Even though it had many benefits for me, yet I regret only studying English.I have always wanted to be alone and I really am. However, in the last few years I started reading some self-help books about knowing yourself, and those books made me more social. I am much more outgoing now, and I really like gatherings, I even want to go out to see the world and meet new people.” ...

Sep 11 2020

September 11, 2020

“Now that I am a grown up, I always look back and wish that I could visit my childhood's dreams and fantasies. When I was a kid, I really wanted to be able to ride the bicycle, but we had a tricycle that my older sister used to ride a lot. I was never able to learn to ride a bicycle because I was growing up and my community wouldn't allow it at the time. Today, at the age of twenty-eight I still have that desire deep in my heart. It has been about a month now that I can ride a bike, but it cannot compensate the fact that I couldn't ride one as a child. Once our desires die down, they can never be fulfilled. I really wish I could go back to my childhood and play hide and seek with my friends with a blink of an eye and never see these days.” ...

Sep 10 2020

September 10, 2020

“Ever since I was a child, I had the desire to write. I was an active kid and I always wanted to read and write. Unfortunately, at the time no one supported me. Once I was retired, my dear sister and close friend (Maryam Qazi) who has passed away invited me to dinner one day. We started to talk about reading and writing literature. She told me that I was a sensitive person, and because I don't teach anymore that I should start writing what I feel. Maryam was my biggest supporter; she brightened my heart. I started to write poems for children at the age of forty seven. Same as any other woman in my community, I have seen a lot of downfalls, and that is why I haven't been able to turn my writings into a book. However, some of my writings have been published in some of the magazines from east and south of Kurdistan.” ...

Sep 06 2020

September 6, 2020

“I truly love flowers and greens in general because I'm always relieved when I see them. I have many different types of flowers in my house and I water them every day. Last year while I was watering my plants, the water made way for the flower seeds to go into the cracks of the walls, this year they are all grown up. Once I realized that they had been growing there, I could not ignore them so I started watering them as well. Little by little all the flowers started to emerge from the walls and now everyone who passes by takes a look in admiration. They usually ask how I had done it, but in reality, it is the beautiful work of nature. Since it has such a beautiful sight, it has become a way of gardening flowers.” ...

Aug 30 2020

August 30, 2020

“Before he wakes up in the morning, I find a way to sneak out of the house. But when I come home at noon, I have to take him to work with me. He holds on to the motorcycle and has learned to be careful. They have often told me that it is dangerous, but he will have an outburst if I don’t take him.We have planted strawberries with my father for many years. He stays with me and my father until the evening and gets busy with the strawberries. The bad thing is that he gets dirty and bored, so I have to take him back to his mother. On top of that, he prepares himself the next day to come to work with me. But it makes me happy that he is already my companion.” ...

Aug 27 2020

August 27, 2020

"I was born in Bijar, a small city in Eastern Kurdistan. My studies didn’t last long because I was a mischievous student and I gave it up early on. I did various jobs, from a teashop worker to an officer and even a dam worker. My recklessness took me to prison and introduced me to the different kinds of people in society. But I have always tried to stay clean and not be hooked on any job that I will regret later, even though my appearance says otherwise.I have been an ironworker for a few years now, I get my income from it and I love my job.My name is Ibrahim, but I have been called Ibra so much that I have forgotten my actual name." ...

Aug 23 2020

August 23, 2020