Humans of East - Humans of Kurdistan

“I have lost many family members. My parents and relatives, each in a different way and due to war. In the past few years, many of these houses were renovated, and we did it to, except for this side because I many memories here and I don't want to ruin it. It has many photos of my family, and the photos belong to a time where we were happy. My kids also come to this side and they get a happy feeling when they do. We stay together and take photos. This side represents my past, it is a side that can show all of my family at once to whomever visits it.” ...

Dec 16 2020

December 16, 2020

“I was eleven years old when I first started reading something I wasn't studying at school, and that was a book about the Egyptian Sinoha. My father used to always say that those books are not suitable for my age, but I kept reading them. I was proud that I had more knowledge than my friends. Questions started forming in my head, but I couldn't answer any of them, so I asked my father.-Dad, what is and who is God?-Son, God is our creator and he is what enlightens us.-Where have we come from?-According to God's speech, we come from humanity's parents, Adam and Hawa.-Where do we go when we die?-No one knows.That was all the answers my father could provide, and tens of questions were left unanswered. One day, my uncle come to our house, I remember that I was just a teenager, I asked him some questions. He said that they were philosophical questions, to get the answers you will have to know more about yourself, and that's to read more.” “I thought that if I went to college and read more, I would become a knowledgeable teacher and get all the answers I want. Now, after half of my age already gone, and gaining a master's degree and reading many philosophical, economical, managerial, religious, historical, and research books, as well as writing many speeches and working on literature, I still believe that I'm just a clueless student. The only conclusion I have gotten to in terms of Anthology is that maybe some things are a fact about the world, but the one thing that I truly believe is death.” ...

Dec 15 2020

December 15, 2020

“I have been living in Jwanro city in Kirmashan province for 34 years. I fear a lot from loneliness and death, it even upsets me to think about it. What happened to me a while back took all the good and bad in my life with it. During the expansion of radical Islamism near our area in the previous couple of years, on a cold winter night, several masked men came to my shop, they had knives, they wrecked my shop and even injured myself. This had been the worst thing that has ever happened to me. What hurts people in this world is people who believe that they are the only ones who know all the answers, and can't accept any other thoughts. I still think about that night, and there is no worse memory in my mind because it was unfair, and I can never forget it. Several years have passed now, but it still affects my life, my life has never been the same since. After that night, I realized that as hard as you make it for yourself, life gets harder, and as easy as you make it for yourself, it will get easier.” ...

Dec 13 2020

December 13, 2020

I was born from a financially poor family, we are four brothers and two sisters. I have lost a brother and a sister. I have quit school and started working since I was a kid, I was a waiter at a cafe. Back then, gas wasn't used as much, they were only using wood and coal for heating. After a while of working, I opened my own cafe in Mahabad's bazaar, and bought the shop next door and rented it to a shop selling coal. Nowadays, people don't use coal as much, unless they are having a barbecue or smoking Shisha. I am getting old and my son runs the cafe now, and I work here setting up coal for the cafe ...

Dec 12 2020

December 12, 2020

“I only fear God, who else do I have to fear? Monsters? Or what? I believe this fear is more important than anything. Fate sometimes could be very dangerous, for example a child dying from sickness. I had twenty years old that went to Tahran, but died. That has been the biggest pain in my life, but at least God wanted him to stay with me until then, no one really knows how God can bless you. I am happy with everything I have, I love my wife, she does all the work and what more could I ask for. Knowing people is very important to me, the people in the village know me as a man who fears God, even though I don't consider myself one, but they call me Khalifa. Showing good manners and being good with people is very important, same as our prophet, which I'm in love with. Being good with men and women, young and old, living and nonliving, you can see how much I love my horse. There are things that we need to get over as well, things that are not in our control, and the good work is in your hand and that means everything.” ...

Dec 08 2020

December 8, 2020

“My father is considered as the first key maker in Mahabad, meaning he was the first ever to work on locks and keys and that was the main reason my brothers and I learned the work, and even our kids are starting to learn. I remember as a kid when my father had a shop, people used to bring him locks to fix and he used to give it to us and tell us if we are able to open it, he'd give us candy. Since I had learned from my father, I used to quickly open it and give it back for the candy. I grew up doing this job and I am more and more drawn into it each day. I finally opened my own shop and started working and got married. Thank God that I have always faced good in life, and I consider myself an honest man, I'm very happy with my life.” ...

Dec 06 2020

December 6, 2020

“I didn't marry someone of my own choice because I was just a little kid then. I started to love him, and he loved me back until after the revolution when he found out I can't have kids. The first time I brought someone to marry him he didn't even know, but the second time I brought a 25 years old girl for him to marry and have kids, he was 70 at the time. They had a kid, but after 7 months my husband died, he didn't even get the chance to hold him properly. The child is now 14, and I love him as one of mine, but I don't see him often because the mother has left, and I don't blame her because she was very young when she married my husband. The child loves me more than he loves his mother, whenever I visit them, he makes sure I don't leave his side. He loves me with all his heart and I love him too.” ...

Dec 04 2020

December 4, 2020

“I had to teachers in school that let students do whatever they wanted, one of them let us write and read what we wanted. The other was the person that I learned Kurdish from. One day he told us to come up with two riddles for the next week, and I had no idea what to do. I asked my father and he told me two riddles, I wrote them on a piece of paper, I read it out loud in class and he wrote them in his notebook. He tapped my shoulder and told me good job, I was extremely happy. He said good job, but you also have these mistakes you need to fix. I thanked him and start writing for myself until I went to college. I was regularly going to Karaj to see Mr. Hazhar, and I was always giving him a letter I had written. He used to look at it and say what kind of nonsense this is? Go and read more. This way, he helped me to stay encouraged to get better and better.” “Last time I saw him I read one of my poems for him. Mr. Shapol was there as well, and he asked me what I had brought, and asked me to read it. It was a Persian poem called “Mant Bloorin Saghret”. I read it and Mr. Shapol was amazed, he told me good job. They glanced at each other and my eyes were filled with tears. I have been writing and translating texts for 20 years now. I have worked on history and worked closely in international human rights. Many of my articles were published in Media magazine, Komalayty Sardam in the south, as well as Mahabad magazine and Kashkul, I wrote under the nickname Zardasht Mukriani about social, political, and human rights as well as historical subjects. I now run Zanko magazine in Mahabad and it is published every month here.” ...

Dec 01 2020

December 1, 2020

“I've wanted to have my own business for a long time and make my own money, even if it has a small income. I have always been involved in arts. I have a friend who was an artist and was making dream catchers, for two years of our friendship she knew that I really liked learning from her, but after practicing for several times I was failing at making a good one. Then I started learning on the internet and was getting better. I slowly started making necklaces for my relatives, and then taught my sister as well so we expanded the business. After one year of experience, we started marketing on Instagram and created a page called Palka. I was extremely happy because in a short time I was able to have a good income and send out a good number of handmade products.” ...

Nov 28 2020

November 28, 2020

“Fear is a natural thing that everyone experiences, but my feelings of fear are for my society. The pandemic had put a great uncertainty in our people's lives as well as the world. I in part, am also afraid because of people's bad situations. Furthermore, people's financial situations are getting worse day by day, and that worries me. The happiest moments of my life were when I used to see people having fun, or when I used to see the girls of my country singing Newroz songs on the stage freely.” ...

Nov 26 2020

November 26, 2020