Humans of South - Humans of Kurdistan

“I was born in Rojava, it is almost 6 years since I decided to leave Rojava and come to Slemani. I left my mother and siblings there, I think of them every day, especially my mother., but I cannot return. I ran away for my life because of ISIS threats. I was in 9th grade then, but I didn’t finish my studies and started working here. I provide for my family and send them money for expenses.I was 5 when my father passed away. My older brother became a soldier and I was left with my mother, 3 sisters, and 2 younger brothers. It was very difficult for me to take care of the family when I was so young. But either way, it was much better then because I could take care of them closely and help them there, but I got to the point of living apart from them.” ...

Sep 08 2020

September 8, 2020

“I have been fixing radio devices, wireless devices, watches and fans since 1980 as my day job. After the market died down, I became a Peshmarga in Sewran area until they moved headquarters to Sargalu. I used to make food for the Peshmarga, but they also brought me their broken radios and I would fix it free of charge. I even fixed their walkie talkies. Back then, there were many different types of radio devices such as Philips, Sanyon, Silver, Hancock and Canyon. They all had 7 or 8 frequencies and a lot of people listened to radio in Kurdistan. The older radio models were very difficult to fix unlike now, the recent ones can be fixed by just using an integrator. I have a shop in Hajiawa now and every day I ride my bike to the shop to make a living. Thank God that I don't depend on salaries and I have my own business, which I dearly hold to my heart.” ...

Sep 07 2020

September 7, 2020

“I am 69 years’ old, I was 17 when I got married. I have faced a lot throughout my marriage, but I have always supported my husband, in a way that I have often worked hand in hand with my husband like a man and have played a role in providing for our children.The most difficult part for me was when Karim was assigned in one of the bases in Dyala in the 1970s, so we lived as outlanders for many years. My only source of happiness was my children. I have tried my best to raise them based on Kurdish culture and traditions, and fortunately all my daughters-in-law and sons-in-law are Kurds and I have 58 children and grandchildren. I now live with my husband and one of my daughters. To keep up with my children, they have created a group chat that I am also a part of, I keep up and talk with them every day.” ...

Sep 05 2020

September 5, 2020

“I live in Hajiawa, in 2015 I planted these trees in front of our house and they gradually grew. The cutting designs are all my own ideas. I have to take care of them and organize them daily, I have to cut them every two days, and I change the design every year. When people pass by our house, they slow down the car to watch the trees, or they get down and take pictures.I want everyone to be part of making the city beautiful, even if it is merely planting one or two trees, especially berry trees, because it grows well here and can stand heat and coldness and it doesn’t cost that much. You could buy a berry tree for 2000 IQDs.” ...

Sep 04 2020

September 4, 2020

“They say your childhood dreams determine your future, I agree with that very much. It became clear to me after the dinosaur stories attracted me in my teenage years.What are dinosaurs? Where did they go? How big was the Brachiosaurus? I collected money when I was 16 to buy books about dinosaurs, the planets, life, and space. I still have them. I am a geologist, I study the rocks to find out what they are made of. Would you believe it, the rocks talk, yes! This is what I found out after 15 years of studying and working in geology.” “I am now working on the details of a research about the dinosaurs extinction when life ended 66 years ago after a meteor hit the earth. And how life started again. After much effort, I was able to find part of a meteor for the first time around Duhok. This success did not end there. There was another research afterwards about a new geological era around Duhok and Zakho, which many researchers failed to find. It seems like geology feels the same way about me as I do about it.” ...

Sep 03 2020

September 3, 2020

“I did not have a moment of joy in life. Our life was full of obstacles and difficulties. But now my sons have thankfully grown up and my life is much better because of them. My husband would make maximum a quarter or half a Dinar when he used to work, it didn’t cover any expenses. I didn’t know what to do with my children, I had no choice but to raise them on dried bread.One winter it was really cold, I borrowed three blankets without telling my husband, and we didn’t have any money. That night when my husband saw the blankets, he asked what are these? When I told him I had borrowed them, he said tomorrow you will either take them back or you leave the house! Next day I took the blankets back, I said you have to take them back my husband got mad at me. He didn’t agree and said you can pay me whenever you can, and if not, I forgive you. After a while we were able to collect money for the blankets and I went to pay him, he said I won’t take it, but I insisted and he said because you did as you promised, I will take two Dinars less.” ...

Sep 03 2020

September 3, 2020

“My name is Wasta Faisal, most of the people know me. I have been repairing photo and video cameras since I was a child. Because there was no work and the market were slow, I started repairing trimmers too. It is just my luck that people are now growing their beards and no one needs a trimmer anymore!Because there isn’t much work and I have a lot of time, I spend my days in the shop creating good video content and posting them on social media, I want to act as a social worker. Since my appearance on social media, more people know me and I have many more followers, I receive many regards every day. But unfortunately, a lot of people make up rumors about me and curse me without even knowing me.In most of the videos where I have talked about an issue, I have said it is useless at the end of the video as a complaint against the people. That phrase has now become my nickname ad it has made me popular.I have often heard in the bazar: There he is, that is Wasta It is useless.” ...

Sep 01 2020

September 1, 2020

“I have never been ashamed of any kind of work. To obtain an income, I have been willing to stand from early morning until the evening prayers and work and serve people. There have been absolutely worthless people, but I have had no choice but to serve them tea and water and say here you go. I have met a lot of people and have been in strange situations, but I have simply accepted all of it. I have always said, life is full of desolation in the same way it is full of happiness.I have often met people who drank their tea and said I don’t have money to pay. It has been very normal for me and I have even served him another tea. But what pains me is to see people perceive me as dumb and drink tea and leave without paying. I have been there many times, with rich, wise, and well-known people. It is common for a university professor with a doctorate degree to drink an ill-gotten tea for 250 IQDs and leave. I have unfortunately seen many of those.” ...

Aug 31 2020

August 31, 2020

“All the things that have happened in my life have been much more compared to my age, sometimes I feel like I have lived longer. Whatever I have longed for or planned for, I have been able to achieve. Even with many barriers that have often stopped me or have made me wait, I have never regretted my goals. When I was 12 years old, I started playing music at Kaziwa, Kurdistan Save the Children and chose violin. My sister gifted me my first instrument. After a few years, I became a teacher there, which was one of my childhood goals...

Aug 29 2020

August 29, 2020

“I always dress in traditional Kurdish clothes when I go to visit someone or even when I go to the bazar. We are not Europeans, we are Kurds and we live among the mountains. It is a shame to ruin your own culture. I once went to Sulaimani for office work. I was standing at a pickles’ shop when I overheard a young boy tell his friend: Hama have you seen anything like this? He said: no. Then he said: who do you think it is? Hama said: It is either Sheikh Mahmood Namr or Khula Pisa.” “My name is Taha, I am better known as Mam Taha Shirayi. We have been a poor community, but we have become strong and powerful because we lived in the mountains.We have always served Peshmerga fighters and I have been a Peshmerga myself. No one should be disloyal to his nation. I love vintage things, I have a binocular that Mam Jalal gave to me and I still keep it. I have kept and preserved many of my old weapons. I have bullet belts from 1974. When the Baath government chemically bombed Balisan, we became homeless and moved to Betwata. The government blew up our house, saying it is government property. They buried many people alive, they did all kinds of terrible things to the Kurds.” ...

Aug 27 2020

August 27, 2020