In pictures

We have come to the end of our time away. After 3 months in India followed by 3 months in Iraqi Kurdistan we are back in Aotearoa, New Zealand. It has been a tremendous 6 months with many highlights, and lowlights, many times of laughter and of tears, being shown how to love and learning the hard way. God has shown us a lot about himself and ourselves and he has also brought us closer in our marriage along the journey. Praise Him!

As a summary of our time in Kurdistan we thought we'd put it up in pictures rather than more writing. We also learned a lot from the proverbs of the Kurdish people, so we have added some where we thought they were appropriate. Many of the proverbs are open to interpretation. ;-)

"A home without guests, a village without shepherds, both are hopeless indeed."

 

Traditional Kurdish clothes. "Many women, many words." :-P

Backstreet Boys... Kurdish style. "God has created us brothers but has given us separate purses."

"He who loves a woman is a nephew of the sun."

Lake Dukan. "The man is a river, the woman a lake."

Forever spoiled for Pomegranates after this. "Patience is bitter, but it bears sweet fruit."

Our colleague and friend Nazm and his wife.

"If skill could be gained by watching, every dog would become a butcher."

Our good friend and taxi driver, Chya. "A good companion shortens the longest road."

"Eat and drink with your friends but do not trade with them."

"An illness comes by the pound and goes away by the ounce."

Test day for the students. "Study from new books but from old teachers." :-P

Some of our colleagues. "To speak is to sow, to listen is to reap."

Kids who are often playing football at  the centre.

"Those away from the battlefields boast about their swords."

Arbat, Syrian Refugee Camp.

600,000 pairs of shoes to be distributed to those in need at the Syrian refugee camps.

Syrian refugees queuing for operation Chirstmas Child boxes. "What you give away, you keep."



The little one whose mother Karina walked alongside during birth. "One can never repay one's debt to one's mother."

Jeremy's top student, Germyan, and his family.

Amna Suraka- The Red Building:
"Do you know what this room represents?" asked our guide who arrived late, or maybe we were a little anxious to get moving since it was our last day in the country.
"No, but it's beautiful." Karina replied as we simultaneously decided that we would go at the guides pace. "Each piece of mirror represents a person who died in the Anfal under Saddam's regime." He responded. "There are a hundred and eighty two thousand pieces in total. And each light on the ceiling represents a village that was destroyed, there are four thousand five hundred of them."

So much beauty and yet so much trauma and pain. Mixed emotions were the feeling of the morning as we went from rooms with statues of the torture to rooms filled  with beautiful carpets and pictures, hearing the stories of rape and the stories of those who stood in courage against what was happening.

Ten Pin Chaos.
As our time came to an end in Kurdistan we went for a spot of bowling with some friends who were generous with their time and words of kindness towards us. It was destined to be a brilliant showdown- three Kurds against three Kiwis! It was probably a good thing that none of us kept a close eye on the scores, because we looked more like 4 teachers, a reporter and a doctor than bowlers. Big ups to Aram- who kept asking questions about the rules but somehow looked like a seasoned pro at knocking down pins; Samira- most competitive bowler (ever); Gulala- most improved player, and John who bowled well but also doubled as our big brother for the three months we were in Kurdistan.

From left to right: Aram, Gulala, John, Samira, Karina and Jeremy

Jezhin Korban
It was the day when God asked Abraham to take his son up to the top of a mountain and sacrifice him. I don't know which was more unthinkable- that God would ask such a deed, or that Abraham would obey it?! Which ever way we might try to answer that question, we have to go on- Abraham made all the preparations to sacrifice his beloved son. He went all the way to obey God, but in the end God exchanged Abraham's son for a ram.
Was it Isaac? Was it Ishamel? Each year, the land of the Kurds celebrates Jezhin Korban- the day they remember when God provided a ram for sacrifice. Their practice is to sacrifice an animal in remembrance of the story as well as to atone for the sins that they and their family have committed over the last year. If you are a goat or a sheep, it is not a good time of year for you. For the people of Kurdistan it is such an important festival, that they take the whole week off to celebrate with friends a family.

Our day started early as we had plans to visit all our colleagues who are locals of Chamchamal. One visit equals one glass of fizzy drink (or something else sweet) as well as chocolate and probably some over-sweetened chai. I could see a liver attack on the horizon.
Although they may not have had our personal health at the top of their priorities list, I was reminded of how hospitable the Kurdish people are. One of our colleagues was keen to show us around the house that he had just built. It was quite a palace considering his circumstances, but then we found out that he had been given reparation money because of his family members who had been murdered under Sadam's regime.
On arrival to another house we were greeted by a colleague who was covered in blood. "Must've been a big sheep" I thought until he explained that he had decided on a cow instead (a cow covers 7 people whereas a sheep covers only 1).

The reality of what we saw and the Biblical narrative is pretty different though. Jesus Christ took our sins before we had any idea what was happening! Coming at it from this narrative, he did it motivated by a heart full of love for us. He cancelled our sins so that the sheep don't have to. In fact Christ dying was followed by something just as miraculous as his love- death isn't as strong as him, so it couldn't keep him dead. No more sheep needed because he overcame being "dead and buried". No wonder he is referred to as "the Lamb of God". 

Two friends

Meet S.

S is an average girl in Shorsh village. She lives with her parents and two brothers. She spends her days at home with her mother or playing on the street with her brothers. Sometimes they watch their dad at work with the sheep in the fields near the village.

She will go to school in a few years time and learn to read and write, she will join in the local community centre's children's holiday programmes, and eventually she will become a Kurdish teenager. Like many of the teenage girls in Shorsh she might get married to an older man and start having his babies. Or, with the progress that Kurdistan is seeing during these years of peace, she might get to go to University and study for a career, maybe teaching or nursing. Her school grades will determine her career subject, and maybe if she is fortunate her family will allow her to work after her training before she gets married.

She will start having children as soon as she is married, and will probably have 3 or 4 before she is considered to have fulfilled her duty to her family. Her journey won't be easy, what with the FGM* she had done as a child and the high rate of miscarriages in her community. She will get basic medical needs met at the local community centre's health clinic. In the evenings when she cooks and puts the children to bed, there's a good chance he'll be watching television while drinking tea or he might be down at the local football cage with his mates.

She will enjoy sitting out in her concrete yard drinking tea with the other women in her extended family. She'll make delicious flavoured rice and stuffed vine leaves and a huge range of other side dishes for the various festivals her country celebrates. She will learn to sew in the community centre where her mother finally learned to read Kurdish. On holidays she'll take her family outdoors for picnics and watch her husband barbeque kebabs while she and her friends line up and dance in their best traditional dresses. And they will rejoice in being Kurds.

Meet B.

B lives at home with his parents, 4 sisters and 1 brother. His father works as a guard at the local community centre and his mother looks after the house. During the day he goes to the local school, and in the evenings before dinner he plays with his friends.

He gets grazes on his knees when he plays out on the streets but he gets cream for them at the community centre's health clinic when he needs it. When he's not watching his daddy work, he's at the barbers watching his daddy and uncles trim their beards. In a couple of years he wants to join the computer classes with the other boys at the community centre. Once he finishes school he might go to university and train for a career, maybe engineering or business.

When he's older he will join a football team and play football at nights after dinner in the local football cage. When Barcelona plays Real Madrid each year, he'll be cheering as loudly as he can in front of his mate's TV. When he's on holiday from university he'll take the English classes at the local community centre so that he can get a better job later on.

He will look after his wife and make sure their family is secure amongst the village politics. When he's got extra time, he'll find extra work gardening or loading trucks at the local community centre. He will work hard to keep his family and aging parents financially secure despite political changes and regional uncertainty.

When he grows to be an old man he'll sip tea down the road at the tea stall and tell stories with his mates. He'll watch the trees in the community centre's orchard grow and produce fruit, and tell his grandchildren off for picking unripe pomegranates. He will rejoice in living a different life to his father and grandfather, a life of peace and security.

*FGM information can be found here