Humans of South - Humans of Kurdistan

“After the civil war in Kurdistan, unemployment was at its peak, life was getting tougher by the day so I decided to go to Iran for work with a friend of mine. We were working in a factory, the working hours were too many, and so we used to go for trips from time to time. There was a place called Sarab, I was going there so much they started calling me Omar Sarabi, and that's become my nickname. I then decided to go to Turkey, I stayed there for a while and then wanted to go to Europe. I had to go through smuggling, and if I wasn't able to make it, I had to work and gather some money and then try again. One day while I was working, a big logistics device fell off and hit me in my back”. “I was unconscious due to the pain. When I was conscious again, I was at the hospital and in bad shape. The doctor told me that my spinal cord had been damaged, and that my legs will never be able work again. The pain of being away from my family, my loneliness, and physical pain all had mixed up. I was in a very bad mental state. I will never forget the nurse that helped me every day to recover. Staying there became meaningless for me, and so I decided to come back to Kurdistan. My mother was extremely sad for me. I became a disabled person, and decided to follow the hobby that I used to have. I started painting portraits, and pictures of nature, and was able to slowly adapt to my new life. Once I became more familiar with social media, I was posting my paintings online. People started to get to know me from all around Kurdistan, and they used to come visit me, take photos with me, and hear my story”. “I got to know a lady who admired my work, we started to fell in love with each other. We used to make video calls every day. When she came in my life, I started growing hope every day, life was becoming better every day. Unfortunately, her sister made came in between us, and we couldn't get married. She believed that a disabled person doesn't deserve to marry a normal person, and that hurt me and made my life difficult again. I express my pain through playing the Nay. I see my nephews every day, I hug them, play with them, and they make my life easier. One thing that I can never hide is that what keeps me alive are my brushes, paintings, and my Nay, not people's likes and comments online. What keeps me alive are the pigeons that come sit on my lap, and I get to smell freedom from them”. ...

Apr 26 2021

April 26, 2021

“As I turned 11, my hands became familiar with scissors, and I have been doing this job for 49 years now. In 1974 I joined the revolution, I opened a barber shop in Choman, and was cutting Peshmarga's hair. When the revolution failed, I left to Iran to work. I then came back to Erbil and worked as a barber until the civil war in 1995. I then left to Akre and opened a shop there. While being a barber shop, my place also had become a center for art because back then the people used to support artists. I had the desire to take photos and record artists voices, and that led me to open a studio and produce music for artists”. “I have also received awards and recognitions from the enlightenment ministry. When the war against ISIS started, along with some friends we were cutting Peshmarga's hair in Akre, Nawaran, Khazr and Bashik, and we were also thanking them for their service. The difference between other barbers and me is that people with different ages come to me for haircuts. I usually work with scissors, even though it is more tiring, but I like using scissors more because every haircut is different”. ...

Apr 24 2021

April 24, 2021

“I didn't finish my education and became a shepherd in a village in Bardarash. In the winter, I used to go to take care of the cows, there were 27 cows, and I used to get paid 15 dinars per cow. I used to take the cows to many places, I still don't know why I was traveling so much. I was young, and I was alone, I didn't have any other shepherd with me to spend time with. I still like the work and cannot stay at home. I have gained a lot weight now, I don't walk to many places now, it has been 9 years since I have done so. From the beginning, I was using a motorcycle, then a horse, and now an old pickup. The worst time I spent shepherding was in 2003 because back then Baath regime's check points used to randomly shoot at us. I remember one day I was shepherding along with some other shepherds, they shot at us and we hid under rocks until the situation was calm again. I have been doing this job for 20 years, and I make a good living out of it”. ...

Apr 21 2021

April 21, 2021

“After graduating from nursery, I always had my mind on how I can earn the nickname they give to nurses (angel of mercy). I have always treated patients and their relatives as calmly as possible. Patients usually are in pain and not in a good mood, so you have to have patience. Nursery has taught me many things, from being respectful to being calm. At the same time, there are a lot of upsetting things, for example when you have to deliver the news of someone's dying. I have seen many tragic cases in my life, but none of them equal to that one time when they brought in a 12-year-old child who had gotten in a car accident and was suffering internal bleeding. The child was in a very bad shape, we had to transfer the child to outside of Halabja. The child’s heart stopped two times on the way, but we could revive the child’s heartbeat, but the child unfortunately passed away the minute we got to the hospital. I will never forget the child’s face”. ...

Apr 15 2021

April 15, 2021

“As a kid, I was into making things by hand, especially using ceramic. I've lived in Iran for several years and learned the profession from a Persian master. I wanted to work at a factory where they were making vases, but they wouldn't let me because I am from South of Kurdistan. However, my dream did come true and I started working in a ceramic factory as a janitor. The best timing to practice what I loved was when the master was taking a lunch break, there were no electrical machines, so I used to use a pedal to operate the machine and make vases, it was very tiring. He used to get angry if he were to find out that I had used his equipment. One day, he got a phone call and went home for the rest of the day without finishing his work. I took over his work and made 10 of the exact same of what he was making”. “When he came back, he saw new vases, and angrily asked who had made them, and my friends pointed at me. He was very angry at the beginning, but after a while he was very happy that I had the potential to work. We worked several years together until I had to go back to Kurdistan, he was upset when he found out that I had to leave. I didn't stop when I came back, it's been 9 years that I do this job now and my sons are working with me. Pottery has become a part of my life, and I make a living out of it. All the material and equipment that I use exist in Kurdistan, including the mud and that glass-like material that I use for the designs”. ...

Apr 11 2021

April 11, 2021

“We are a twin, our names are Ahmed and Mohammed. Not many people believe us when we say that we are a twin, and I don't blame them to be honest, even we know that we don't look alike that much. Even though we were born and grown together, but we are not together as much as other twins are. We have studied only until the third grade, we couldn't stay in school due to bad financial situation, and now we are a shepherding for a gentleman in Kandinawa in exchange for a monthly salary. The sheep are not ours, but we treat them like they are, we are always watching them. We don't have mobile phones, we don't really think they are necessary and we don't it to take our time. For 12-year old like us, this could be not a very suitable job, but there aren't many jobs in the city, especially for our age”. ...

Mar 31 2021

March 31, 2021

“During Ahmad Hasan Bakr's presidency, there was an opportunity for students to travel outside of the country for 3 months. I was able to get a travel passport, travel to Vienna/Austria and then stayed there illegally. I handed myself in and told the police that I don't want to go back to my country. I was put in a camp in 1979 and then had my residency card. I was working in an Austrian electric company for a year where we used to make light bulbs. I was doing well financially. I started learning German because German is the main language in Austria. I stayed there for 8 years and got my citizenship. In 1985, my father was arrested by the government and they used that as a pressure card for me to go back to Mousil. I went to the Iraqi consulate there and said that I will only go back if my father was released”. “I remember that they drugged me, and when I opened my eyes I was in Baghdad. I later realized that they treated me this way because I supported Kurds in protests and participated in rally against the Anfal. I had an Austrian citizenship and they saved me from being executed by the Baath regime. Being tortured has affected me psychologically, but I feel fortunate to be living in a peaceful Kurdistan now”. ...

Mar 26 2021

March 26, 2021

“I have been working for my father ever since I was a kid, and I learned sewing from him. I have always been fascinated with celebrities and wanted to see them, but now some of them visit me. One day Bizhan Kamkar visited me and requested 6 Kurdish suits to wear for a special program at Kurdsat TV and his concert in The United States. Before requesting the suits, he wanted me to first fix his jacket, and once he saw the result he really admired it. I was really happy seeing him on TV wearing the clothes I'd made. I have made Kurdish clothes for many well-known people in Kurdistan, and I am always pleased when I see them wearing them because I know I had done a good job”. ...

Mar 24 2021

March 24, 2021

“I really like arts, especially makeup and cinema SFX. This year, I received an award for zombie makeup in Duhok, and that encouraged me to further develop my career. I am now working on a project for our Peshmarga forces, I'm planning to include cinema SFX in their trainings in order for them to be able to adapt better to the environments they are in. The equipment I use are the same that are used anywhere around the world. Therefore, I tried to come up with better makeup material. I am also working a horror movie about zombies because that's something our cinema is unfamiliar with. I remember when I first started working on this people were looking down on me, so it took me a while until people became more familiar with it. As a girl, I want to defy the odds and show my community that we as girls are no lesser than our male counterparts, we can even do better than them”. ...

Mar 22 2021

March 22, 2021

“I was always into sports, and that encouraged me to study sports in college. I started getting into cycling in 2011. The first thing I tried was going from Barzan to Soran town. Then, I expanded on my travel and went from Duhok to Soran, then Slemani, Halabja, Biyara, Tawela and Iran's borders. I travel solo, and that's a testimony of being confident and making decisions for yourself. The longest I have traveled was from Duhok to Istanbul, 1700 kilometers away and it took me 23 days. I had a GPS with me, and every cycler knows how important it is. My last travel was from Duhok to Basra, and it took me 18 days. Security situations weren't ideal, but I took the chance and did it anyway. Traveling to Basra had taught me how the people their love Kurds and Kurdistan. I was wondering why they love Kurds so much, and it was because how Baath regime had all those bad things to Kurds and Shias. This is why they had so much love for me and Kurdistan”. ...

Mar 19 2021

March 19, 2021