This book is a harrowing political history of Kurdish Iraq told through the extraordinary rags-to-riches story of a childhood refugee. That child is me.
Here is more about the book
My dad was an illiterate. In past 7 days he read 300 pages of Quran through a reader pen. He is the happiest since I remember him. Through technology he is not illiterate anymore.
He is a strong supporter of edu & reading. He is astounded at those of us that can read but don't.
A story from Halabja
THREAD: My mom was 8 months pregnant with me. My family were living with a few hundred other people in an abandoned school.
My father had just recovered from a shrapnel going through his knee a few months prior.
1/13
At the time the international community was with Iraq, so they turned a blide eye to this genocide.
It’s sad we still see the world turn a blind eye to genocide when they favor the government doing it.
On March 16,1988, a small Kurdish Iraqi town, Halabja, got bombarded by chemical weapons by Saddam Hussain’s Iraqi govt.
Two days prior, my father’s knee got severely wounded when a bomb hit close to him, killing one and wounding many.
He got hearing aid in his 30s but because of economic sanctions, wars and raising 7 children he was never able to learn how to read and write.
He ensured all us finish school.
In the past two years he has learned to write Kurdish alphabet.
My mother was only 23, had 3 daughters and a son on the way (me) and not knowing if her husband was alive, and was living in a refugee camp.
Even now, she can’t express with words how tough it was. Only with tears when she is alone on that day.
On the morning of 16 March, bombs start raining down on the city. My parents hunkered down in a basement. Praying to God for survival, with hearts full of fear and eyes full of tears.
When sound of bombs went away, my mother went home to pick up clothes for my three sisters.
After two months of getting treatment in hospitals, my father was able to walk and goes to find them.
I was on my mother’s womb and born 3 month after this in a school turned refugee camp.
My family survived, but 5,000 innocent Kurdish civilians were martyred on that day
He was born with hearing difficulty. Back then they didn’t have hearing aid devices and so he wasn’t enrolled in school.
He became a shepard of the family’s animals at age 5. Then a labour when he started a family.
My mother and sisters were put in a refugee camps along with thousands of other survivors.
For two month they didn’t know if the other was alive.
They lost their homes and all life belongings in an instant, but the most difficult part was the thinking of losing each other.
My father gets on an abandoned donkey. Reaches Iranian border.
My mother and sisters get to the border from a different route after walking for a day and night. They see hundreds of dead bodies along the way.
My father got hospitalized for two months.
On the way, she finds out people are dying on the streets when they breathed the poisonous air.
They decide they must run for their lives.
When it gets dark an another bomb hits close to them. It separated my wounded father from my mother and three sisters.
I talked about the power of hope to 1.5k attendees.
One of the worst things you can do to others is make them lose hope.
Merchants of hopelessness wants you to believe there is no future for you
Don’t listen to them.
Hope has transformative power.
For the past 6 month, alongside doing extensive workshops for 1k youth, my team and I were developing a comprehensive skill building online program for university students in Kurdistan of Iraq.
We did extensive research on what skills to include that are most needed by youth
I was born in the tent in August around the day the 8 years old Iraq- Iran bloody war ended that took the lives of around a million people.
We went back to Halabja after Saddam’s regime were expelled from the Kurdistan cities in 1991. My parents still live there.
13/13
Today I went back to Halabja to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the chemical weapons attack on the city where 5k people were killed and thousands wounds.
My parents and 3 sisters were in the city when it happened. I was on my mother’s womb.
Yesterday Kak
@peshawa_ahmed
posted this photo he had taken of his parents, Halabja genocide survivors. So many feelings, so many words, and a life rooted in pain and wounds, but this photo is pure gratitude and hope.
خوایە وەتەن ئاواکەی
#TheRepublicOfDreams
[book coming soon]
Back in the abandoned school, a lot of people were waiting for him to come back with news of the city.
He went in with the cradle full of roses and said “I brought you flowers from home” Everyone started crying. They missed the smell of home.
12/13
My dad told my mom he wants to go back to Halabja to get cradle for the baby
Deep down he missed home and wanted to go visit. He said he would go to get cradle for me. I was due to come to this life in a month time.
2/13
Life tip: 3 QUESTIONS to ask yourself before speaking:
1. Is it True?
2. Is it Kind?
3. Is it Useful?
The aim would be to speak if at least two answers are yes.
They survived because the wind direction was taking the chemical away from them. Those who run to the other side of the town mostly died or heavily injured.
They walked for a night and day to get out of the country.
7/13
Right when they were in the outskirt of the town & it was getting dark, a bomb hit near them. Everyone run for their lives.
It was like end of times. My dad was carried to safety through a series of mountains by one of my cousins. My mom & sisters with a different group.
6/13
Several month before that on March 16 1988, Halabja, a small town in the Kurdistan part of Iraq was bombarded by with chemical weapons by Saddam regime.
5,000 innocent civilians were martyred and more than 10,000 injured in one day. The remaining 50k+ people fled.
3/13
Around noon on March 16, the air smelled different. It smelled like sweep apple. It was the last breath of air for 5 thousands innocent civilian Kurds.
My family run away in the later afternoon when they saw people dying in the street. My dad was carried away.
5/13
My dad set up a tent under a tree in the abandoned school year as the weather became bearable. Deep down he missed home and wanted to go visit. He said he would go to get cradle for me. I was due to come to this life in a month time.
9/13
My dad was injured on day before that close to our home when a bomb hit near him that killed two people.
Everyone took cover in underground bunkers not knowing that the next day bombardment would be chemical and the air they breathe would kill thousands of them.
4/13
He knew the danger of going back, not because of chemical remains, but Iraqi forces designated the city as a forbidden land and anyone being captured there would be executed with live ammunition.
10/13
He secretly went to the house. Found the cradle and was on his way out, but the untouched colourful roses captured his attention. He picked them all, sat down smelled them for a long time with a sight of sadness.
11/13
Eid Mubarak to all celebrating it. Eid is three things for me:
- celebrating goodness
- forgiving others around me of all things
- displaying God’s beauty in my actions and attire.
May Allah accept all your deeds in the month of Ramadan!
Appreciate the remaining time with your parents
If they have around 10 years left and you see them 4 days a year, you don't have 10 years, but 40 days with them.
If you are with them this holiday
- Appreciate them
- Listen to them
- Make them happy
- Tell them you love them
My dad was put in a hospital and after two month. They didn’t know if the other survived. They only hoped. When my dad was able to talk he started looking until he found my mom and sisters.
I was in my mother’s womb throughout this.
8/13
@jacksonhinklle
Correct. Dizayee's Falcon Group says it is "American, British, German, Canada, Colombian [and] Israeli trained". They are probably also involved in selling US stolen Syrian oil to Israel.
You don’t have to be pro anyone to feel their pain. You just have to be pro-humanity.
Don’t let yourself to be ok with children being killed.
If you can’t do anything, pray war ends
A Kurdish woman (Sabat Islambouli) with Japanese Kei Okami, & Indian Anandi Gopal, graduation picture in 1890. from the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania. They were the first women of their nations to have obtained medical degrees from a western university.
She has done many trips to the Kurdistan Region to interview hundreds of people.
He has interviewed me for hundreds of hours and covered my journey personally from 2009 until now.
The book will be available in book stores in the USA in the fall, and on Amazon in Jan 2025.
It covers the stories of my parents just before I was born and my family and my story until recently.
I am so glad they chose a cover that shows the green mountains of Kurdistan of Iraq.
Hey
@sama
, when I ask ChatGPT-3 to give responses in Kurdish, it gives answers that is not comprehensible and gibberish. Works really well for other languages.
Hope your team works on it for this version or Chat GPT 4
Happy to connect your team to right people to support
I will be cheering for 12 year old Syrian prodigy Hend Zaza in the
#tokyoolympics
that starts today. The youngest person to compete in Olympic this year.
The program will include:
1. Self awareness & goal setting
2. Communication skills
3. Critical thinking
4. Problem solving
5. Networking
6. Financial literacy 101
7. Digital literacy 101
8. Entrepreneurship 101
9. How to prepare for and find a job
10. Professional etiquette
The New York University Press just shared the final approved book cover with the author, Nicole F. Watts.
Nicole is a professor at San Francisco State University and spent 12 years working on the book.
Akagi, a Japanese company, kept their Icebar prices the same for 25 years. They had to raise it by 10 cents. The whole staff apologise for raising the price in a "sad announcement" ad through national TV
We need more conscious people running companies in the world.
The Kurdish people have made significant contributions to the arts, literature, and politics, including Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi and Kurdish-Syrian artist Ismail Hassan.
The Kurds have a long history of resistance and struggle for their rights, including the establishment of autonomous Kurdish regions in Iraq and Syria.
The Kurdish people deserve to be recognized and respected for their unique culture and history. Let's raise awareness and support their struggle for self-determination.
#Kurds
#KurdishRights
I wanted to take a break from my corporate job to do exactly this. To help youth find their next step.
That is why I named the program:
Step Up Program
My father was severely wounded on that day.
When night fall they got separated from each other. For 3 months after that my dad didn’t know if my mom and sisters were alive and they didn’t know if he was alive.
The program will be free of charge but limited for those who make it. Selection will be based on the registration form that I will publish on 26 Dec 2023.
It’s very likely I will roll out similar program for youth outside university after this one finishes.
And thinking about an English version for after that.
So far there has been overwhelming support and anticipation from youth for the program.
I am quite excited and looking forward to it.
They were living in different refugee camps. When my dad got a bit better, he started looking for them.
He found the@ several weeks before I was born.
I was one of the fortunate to be born alive with both parents living. I have close friends who have lost their entire families.
The program will last for 13 weeks. Each week will include 1 recorded long form video on the skill for that week, 1 live zoom session, take home and practical exercises. We will also bring experienced professionals to talk to them each week.