Humans of North - Humans of Kurdistan

“I am an agricultural worker. I go to Eden every year when agriculture starts. I work for a daily wage. Working conditions are challenging. I worked for years in these difficult times and bought a house for myself. The house was everything I had. It suffered significant damage in the earthquake. It will ruin my situation because it is a big loss. We have nowhere to go now. My brother, our child, and I stayed outside. We asked the official institutions for tents, but they refused. We stayed outside for three days. Then I went to the market, bought materials, and made the tent. There are 12 of us remaining here now. It’s very cold in the evenings; we turn on the oil heater. We lost not only our home but also our memories. We have nothing now.” ...

May 24 2023

April 12, 2023

“Everything is changing in the world. This change also changes people's lives. One reason for this change is the development of technology. The development of technology makes people's lives a little easier. But this change, like many things in the village, happens late. This is not really a problem. The main problem is not the arrival of technology but the late arrival of some basic needs of human life. One of those needs is water. There has been a water problem in our village for 50 years. There still needs to be a way to lay pipes and bring water to the houses. We still carry our drinking water on donkeys and bring it home. For us, water is more important than technology. But like everything, water comes late.” ...

May 24 2023

May 3, 2023

“Nature is the cure for everything. Leaving the land is like leaving your humanity. I am over 70 years old. Especially young people like to live in cities. But we old people don't leave our village and land even for a day. We were born here; we grew up here. All our memories are here. It is not easy to let go of all memories. I can't live in an apartment. My children live in the city, and I live in the village. Sometimes when I go to town, you think I'm suffocating. I'm out of breath. Immediately, I return to my village, back to my stone house. I just breathe here, and I feel like I live here. In my opinion, urban life is a silent death.” ...

Mar 02 2023

February 22, 2023

“I lost two grandchildren, one was 3 years old, and the other was 7 years old. I lost my son and daughter-in-law. They were all under the ruins. They retrieved the bodies of my grandchildren and daughter-in-law, but my son hasn't been taken out for days. I tell the man, 'go look,' he tells me, 'there is no smell' couldn’t he be alive if there is no smell? Why don't you bring them out? Are you going to let them die? They are working on the rubbles on the road but haven't touched them yet. When I came here, I threw myself in front of the camp. My son is 22 years old. I can't make my voice heard.” ...

Mar 02 2023

February 19, 2023

"Our house was destroyed in the earthquake. I lost four relatives, and eight of my neighbors are still left under the ruins. Everyone is gone, and I have no one left. It gets really cold, so I make a fire here and warm myself. I don't know what else to do. God bless those who are bringing help, but what should I do? There are poorer families than us." ...

Mar 02 2023

February 1, 2023

"I guess there is nothing worse in life than being thirsty. When I was a child, there was no water in the village, and when I reached the age of 60, there was no water again. The village has 150 houses and 40,000 animals, but there is no water. Regarding the animals, we have to bring water to them here, and we use the donkey to bring water to the house. The water from the well also harms health, but we have no other options. If it doesn't rain, we will be without water. This year is very dry, and this drought will be a big problem for us in the summer months. If this continues, there will be no life in the villages, and all the villagers will be displaced. Maybe we will become thirsty, and perhaps we will die longing for a drop of water." ...

Mar 02 2023

January 22, 2023

“When winter comes, the villages become almost ghost towns with the old people staying in them all alone. Since there are no job opportunities in the village, all the young people go to the western cities of Turkey to find work. We, the old people, are left alone in the villages. Hence why, the winter months are lonely for us. We stay, and our children go away. This loneliness continues for about four months. We do all the village work. It's hard, but we have to. When spring comes, some come, and some stay in the cities. We long for those old days; I wish the opportunities that used to exist in the villages still existed now. But unfortunately, there is none. Less water, less snow, and less rain have made agriculture unlike before. For many years, all our things are get caught on fire due to the lack of water. The world is not the same anymore.” ...

Jan 15 2023

January 15, 2023

“I am from Erzirom. My husband and I work as blacksmiths for our livelihood and make sculptures to fulfill our dreams. I know everything related to iron. My profession is one of the hardest ones. Iron vibrates with love because it is heated by fire. They make me very happy. I have a unique view here. I try to create products that show the unity of nature and people. I also try to show the state of women in today's conditions. My main profession is fashion, but I bring fashion to life in a different way.” ...

Dec 08 2022

December 8, 2022

“I studied at the College of Electronics at university. I've never worked in this field, even after graduation. Instead, we bought land in our area and created a self-sustaining environment. I spend most of my days here with the land, with trees and crops. I know that nature is the cure for all ailments. It makes me very comfortable and happy, and I also take pictures. When taking pictures in my village and talking to the villagers, I learned that local seeds are now very scarce. This issue hurt my heart. I decided that when I go to the village, I will collect local seeds and bring them to plant in my garden. I collected dozens of local seeds and will plant them in the spring. I'm still collecting. And later, I will distribute them to the villagers and farmers. I want everything to be natural as before.” ...

Nov 24 2022

November 24, 2022

“I’m a nomad. I have been shepherding for 45 years. I opened my eyes among the animals. The nomad way of life is inherited from our ancestors. Our life is on these plains and mountains. All our lives are spent in the mountains and tents. My two children were born in a tent in the mountains. No matter how amazing migration looks from the far, it has many challenges and difficulties. With the arrival of the Spring, we go from Şirnak mountain by mountain to the border towns. Because of meadows and pastures, we take our herd, sheep, and cattle, to the plateaus near the borders. We stay there for five months and then return to Şirnex along the same route. During January, we stay in tents in the mountains of the Hezex district of Sirnak. Our livelihood is based on sheep and cattle.” ...

Nov 09 2022

November 9, 2022