Um Khalid has an ideal situation for an Iraqi refugee. She’s an engineer working in the private sector who’s married to a Jordanian Sunni. She had a satisfying life living in Amman, Jordan that was quite balanced between caring for her kids and working in their family “water purification device” business. However, as prices got higher in Jordan following “The Kuwait War” and her longing for her homeland got more intense, her family moved to Baghdad. Even during the sanctions, they did well economically since they had their own company. Those who were working for the government at that time had their salaries reduced to a pittance, which of course led to widespread corruption.

Life was reasonably good there until her son, Khalid, a university student who sported a shaved head and a long unkempt beard, was kidnapped. Under Saddam, her son’s beard, which to some indicated sympathy to the Wahabbis (or Salafis) of Saudi Arabia wasn’t a problem because Saddam had an intelligence system that enabled him to know about each and every family in every district. These folks knew that Khalid had no such allegiance nor fanatical intentions. After the fall of Saddam, that intelligence apparatus fell apart, and after several warnings to cut his beard “like a proper Shia” the militia took him off to prison. He remained there for 14 days until his family could locate him and pay the ransom. The night he was released, they moved back to Jordan.

Life for Um Khalid changed. Before, she was friendly with her Jordanian neighbors, enjoying pleasant light conversation over cups of coffee. After this experience, she became passionate about helping less fortunate Iraqi refugee families and the former small talk became unpalatable. Because of her legitimate residency status she’s a lot freer to speak out and stand up for herself when taxi drivers try to drive her “the long way” to her destination or shopkeepers overcharge her once they hear her Iraqi accent.

Um Khalid, a Shia, told me that while she believes Malaki (and his executive branch) to be “worse than useless”, she thinks the parliament is filled with reasonable people who, given the chance and support, can rule Iraq constructively. These are people, she says, who are willing to compromise and that once the Americans leave they will be able to make the concessions necessary to create a functioning government that represents all of the people. Some Sunnis and Christians I talked with think the Parliament is against them.

The sectarian violence going on now does not stem from an age-old religious schism, but rather intentional favoritism towards Sunnis, Palestinians and Christians as well as persecution of the Shia and Kurdish communities under Saddam. The continuing violence since his fall exacerbates this. Now the Shia are taking their comeuppance. Once the violence subsides, if there is justice in the new leadership of the Iraqi government, there is a chance that the population, hungry for peace and security, will join in the rebuilding of their country. The sooner that the violence subsides, the more likely this is to come about.

Again, I’d like to invite those of you who live in Austin, TX to A Gathering Under the Oaks, a backyard event as a benefit for Austin Center for Peace and Justice. I will be the featured guest along with Oliver Rajamani. It will be held at the home of Steve and Rene Morris Larson (2703 Bridle Path, Austin, TX) on June 14^th from 6:30-9:00 pm. The event is a fundraiser for ACPJ with a suggested donation of $25/student $20. For more information, call 799-5117. I will give a short presentation followed by an informal discussion. I hope you can come.

This is the last entry for the section of my blog on Iraqi women refugees. Postings after this one will come as I feel inspired to write.

Thanks for joining me on this journey. Peggy

Rawa is Um Rami’s oldest daughter. Her older brother is 19, she is 16 and her other brothers and sisters are eight and eleven. I met her while at Zahra’s house one day when she and her mother dropped by. While Um Rami and Zahra were working out some plans, Rawa began plying me with questions about English. Her English and my Arabic were at about the same level, so we had a great time trying to understand each other and exchanging vocabulary.

I saw her again a few weeks later when I interviewed her.

In Baghdad, where she lived up to the age of 13, she had a relatively carefree life until the war began. Her family lived in a nice house, she was doing well in school and she had girlfriends to hang out with in her free time. With the war came the bombing which was very frightening for her. Lying in bed at night listening to explosions and wondering if she knew anyone who was being hit wracked her nerves. She and her family moved around to different areas of Baghdad when her father’s store got blown up and he started getting death threats. That’s when she lost contact with most of her girlfriends. Her family finally came to Jordan in 2005, via a scary ride in a taxi to the Jordanian border. They saw some people being pulled over ahead of them so they took off across the desert and circumvented the danger. Being Sabean, a religion that predates Judaism, they likely might only have been robbed….

Rawa’s biggest concern right now is for the well being of her father. He had gotten a phone call about 3 weeks before informing him that his cousin had been killed. He flew into a rage and stormed about for several days before one day taking his passport and leaving. The family hadn’t heard from him since. Rami misses him a lot.

She also misses school. Besides her father’s safe return, she wants to go to school more than anything. Her mother had wanted to be a teacher but her father wouldn’t allow it since it would involve working with men. She has her chance now and is one of the few women I met who makes a special effort to teach her children academic subjects. Rawa has a special drive to learn English, perhaps from seeing Zahra and her work with foreigners.

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One of the sad things about Iraqis having the status of “guest” in Jordan rather than refugee status is that the children aren’t allowed to go to school. Jordanian schools are mostly already full, but even schools created by Iraqis for Iraqi children, are not allowed. This doesn’t make sense when you look down the road and realize that these Iraqi kids will likely be in Jordan for a long time and will grow into uneducated adults which will create another kind of social problem. The fear on the part of the Jordanian government is, however, that Iraqi-only schools may become like some of the madrassas in Pakistan, that is, become schools of terrorism or at least sectarian propaganda. Nevertheless, some Iraqi children are able to attend Jordanian schools. From what I could gather, it depends mostly on the headmaster of the school and whether there is any space.

There are also efforts to start some “informal” schools. These would exist under the radar of the Jordanian government and wouldn’t award grades or diplomas, but would give the kids a chance to socialize, have some regularity in their lives and keep their minds active until they can attend a regular school. A priest at one of the Catholic churches has started an art-based school that meets several afternoons a week. It’s open to any children and encourages their parents to participate as well. One of the best things about this school is that by being open to everyone, the Iraqi kids have the opportunity to mix with Jordanians and Palestinians in a supportive, fun atmosphere.

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Before I left, I found out that Rawa’s father is alive and well and living with relatives in Southern Iraq. He won’t be allowed to return to Jordan and rejoin his family there, however.

A few weeks ago I said I’d write about different groups having different perspectives.

My last interview in Jordan was unsettling. It wasn’t with a woman but a sweet, gentle man who had worked as a translator for the US forces. This man, Abu Muber* loves America, and during his year working with the US soldiers he was treated with more respect than he had ever received in his life. He’d worked for the British and been treated like a low-level lackey and so quit after a few months to translate for the Americans. He was a great asset, translating the deeper meanings and giving insight into the Iraqi culture and mind-set rather than just giving verbatim translations. In mid-2004, an envelope with three bullets in it was delivered to his house. He had been discovered to be a collaborator and the extra bullets were a warning that it wasn’t only he who was at risk. So, he quit and moved his family to Jordan where he’s currently waiting for his visa application to be processed. It costs $565 or $755 per person, depending on the type of immigrant visa one applies for. The truth is that although he has many glowing recommendations, he is unlikely to get his wish and his money will be wasted.

Later in the conversation I asked him what should be done to resolve the situation in Iraq. His response was that the US should “clip the toenails” of Iran. Being Sunni, he believes that Shia Iran wants to take over Iraq. What does he mean by “clipping toenails”? We should nuke Iran’s 30-40 (his figure) nuclear power plants. But… wouldn’t the radiation blow back over Iraq? No worries. Use the neutron bomb.

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This was the first time I’d heard the suggestion from an Iraqi that the US should attack Iran, but other Sunnis have told me that US troops should stay in Iraq until they are sure that Iran won’t attack them. I guess they have a legitimate fear since Iraq had attacked Iran beginning the eight-year long Iran/Iraq war in 1980.

The various Shia (as well as UN reps and other outside observers) to whom I posed this question told me that Iran has no such intentions and that at most, they just want some influence over the outcome and that Saudi Arabia is also in the fray trying to exert it’s own influence.

A Christian ex-translator (who also loves America and is also waiting for his visa) told me that it is only the Christian translators who can be trusted; that the majority of the Muslim ones are actually terrorists in disguise. He also believes that both Muslim sects are out to commit genocide against the Christians. Many Shia believe that the Sunnis are doing the same to them as evidenced by the Sunni gangs and militias that line the road from the Jordanian border through Faluja to Baghdad. I have heard many reports that along this border the first question you are asked when stopped is about your religion and that unless you are Sunni, or can convince them that you are, you are shot. Unfortunately, the Jordanian police (with encouragement from the King as evidenced in a recent speech) are targeting Iraqi Shia for deportation.

During this blog, I have tried to dispel the myth of “The Iraqis” or “The Shia” or “The Sunnis”. Within these broad categories there are many subgroups and within them, many individuals. There is a joke that says that if you have two Iraqis in a room discussing politics, you’ll have three political parties. I will say, however, that the vast majority of Iraqis I met believe that the US forces will be unable to accomplish any success militarily and that the solution to the “Iraq problem” can only be found via negotiation. More on this later.

It seems that I’ve gotten in to a pattern of writing each week on Sunday. By Monday mornings, you can find a new entry.

*Not his real name

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I’m back from Jordan! I’ll be the featured guest along with Oliver Rajamani at A Gathering Under the Oaks, a backyard event as a benefit for Austin Center for Peace and Justice. It will be held at the home of Steve and Rene Morris Larson (2703 Bridle Path, Austin, TX) on June 14^th from 6:30-9:00 pm. The event is a fundraiser for ACPJ with a suggested donation of $25/student $20. For more information, call 799-5117. It will consist of a short presentation followed by an informal discussion. I hope you can come.

Naghia was eleven and living in Baghdad when the Iran-Iraq war broke out.  Her father owned a restaurant, but lost it when he was drafted to fight. Being Chaldean Christian, they were otherwise left alone by Saddam’s regime. Even so, times got hard economically, and by the time Naghia got  her BA in store management, she had to abandon plans for a Masters degree and work to help support her family. She got a job managing the stores of the Department of Education, earning a decent salary.  In the early 90’s however, during the sanctions, her pay was reduced to the equivalent of $2.00 a month, both because the government couldn’t afford to pay her, coupled with the devaluation of the Iraqi Dinar. So, she quit and began doing volunteer work at the church, helping poor families as a kind of case-worker. In turn they helped her and her family. 

About 11 years ago, her sister had an opportunity to go to the Netherlands and abandoned her son to Naghia’s care. When some of Saddam’s men had begun questioning her father about what he may have overheard as proprietor of his restaurant, and made it clear that they would all suffer if he didn’t cooperate, he decided that he’d rather leave than inform.

The rest of the family went to Turkey, but Naghia and her father went to Jordan because he believed that it was easier for them to get a visa from there. And he got one, she says because he was old and was leaving his daughter behind. Naghia had a chance to get a visa for Canada, but when they refused to accept her nephew, she decided to stay.

When I asked how Naghia deals with her pain and frustration, she says that she visits her friends and listens to their troubles, which are often worse than hers, so it puts it in perspective for her. She feels like she doesn’t have a choice, she has to go on living and hide her frustration or depression so as not to make her nephew feel bad.

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PTSD and depression are rampant among the refugees. The worst part is the loss of hope which I often encountered. The most hopeful people seem to be the ones who are busy helping others. Often it means taking care of family members, and other times it takes the form of listening to their friends. A few like Zahra and Naghia become “private” social workers.

Unfortunately, they often don’t have a place to go to unload their problems. If  people like Naghia could have a place to spill their grief and frustration, it would make them better able to keep themselves emotionally afloat and so be in a better position to provide support for those around them.

Isra was born into an upper middle class family. Her father worked in the oil industry under Saddam. They lived in Basra, in the southern part of Iraq by the Kuwaiti border, until she was 11. She had a nice, carefree life; going to social clubs, swimming, hanging out with her friends and going to school. When the Iran-Iraq war began in 1980, her father was transferred to Baghdad. In some ways the war didn’t affect her external life too much; she still continued with school, she made new friends and lived her teenaged-life. On the other hand, it deeply saddened her since she lost a lot of relatives who were sent off to fight in that war. She’s angry about that war that “was for no reason”.

In 1990, the year of the First Gulf War, her family married her to a man she didn’t much care for. They had two children. Her husband, who works with computers, used to give computer classes in the mosque, but once the sectarian war started after Saddam was toppled, this became very dangerous. Sunni mosques were the target of terrorism, men just going to pray were in danger. Men who did more than pray, such as her husband teaching computer classes, were targeted. He began to receive threatening letters. He moved around to different houses to avoid danger, but one night they came for him and took him away……

She stayed in Baghdad for a few more months making inquiries (which in itself is a dangerous thing to do) and tying up loose ends, and then she and her children escaped to Jordan and moved in with her father. (It is much easier for a woman and kids to get temporary visas than for men.) Her life there isn’t very good. Her father is dictatorial and resents having to support his daughter and grandchildren. She wants to work, but can’t get a job in Jordan. She’s praying for another country (especially the US) to let her start her life over.

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I got to hear a lot about the way Iraq used to be “back in the good old days”. For Iraqis, that was in the ‘80’s before the Iran-Iraq war. Iraq was quite prosperous and that prosperity filtered down to the masses. Many things were free: Education, including graduate-level university and medical care. The word Iraqis would use to say “put gas in the car” was “yenar” to fill the tank because it cost less than a dollar to fill even a gas hog. People owned spacious, beautiful houses with gardens in the back and paid just pennies for their utilities. Wages were generally good and there was plenty to eat. They were used to having their own personal space, so it is doubly hard now to live as a whole family in one or two rooms. Especially when people, especially the men, put themselves in danger of deportation by going out.

Sunni women of Isra’s age had it good under Saddam. For one, he promoted education and work opportunities for girls. The more “liberal” families allowed their women to take advantage of it, (often more the education than the work because many times the family didn’t need the extra income.) but that included a lot of people, making Iraqis among the most highly educated of the Arabs. These things applied to all women, but the Shia also had to live with persecution, which I’ll talk about in a future blog.

Yesterday, I visited with Jamila, the 61 year-old mother of Ali*, an ex-translator for the US military. Jamila is very unique, both in her creative personality as well as the fact that both of her parents and also her grandfather (born in 1900) were well educated.  She was at a clinic when she met the sister of her future husband. The sister reported back that she had found a suitable marriage candidate. His family further investigated her family and decided that they were suitable, so he paid her a visit to ask for her hand. Everyone agreed because he was also educated and seemed kindly. Over the course of the next 3 years, they got to know each other better when he would pay visits to them. They never did go out together until after they were married. Unlike in Afghanistan, it would have been fine for her to change her mind at this late date and back out of the marriage. She told me that in the Koran it says that the woman must also agree to the marriage.

 Their engagement lasted so long because her parents wanted her to finish her education first. She taught for 7 years  until taking care of her 4 (at that time) kids got to be too much in addition to her school duties. After she quit, she kept herself busy developing her cooking skills, sewing, and gardening. 

 Life continued like that with her children growing, and marrying until Ali began to get death threats for being a “collaborator”. They tried every avenue to get him a visa for the US, but after a number of denials, (Very very few Iraqis, no matter how pro-American they are, no matter how loyally they have worked to help American soldiers, are allowed into the States.) they couldn’t wait any longer and so came to Jordan. Currently, they are living in a 5th floor walk-up that has a great view of the city, but is difficult for Jamila to navigate.

*not his real name

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An Iraqi who works for an NGO coordinating agency filled us in on the big picture of the refugees.  He talked in terms of the different waves of refugees as they came over a period from the early ‘90’s until now. Jordan has a history of welcoming refugees from as far back as the first wave of Palestinians in ’48 and then again in ‘67. At this point, Palestinians are estimated to comprise 50% of the population. The exact percentage is a sensitive political issue. They initially continued this generosity toward the Iraqis. At the beginning–after the first Gulf war–Iraqis were welcomed and given visas and work permits. In 2003, a large wave affiliated with Saddam came, and later investors and after that professionals. When the waves of sectarian people came, the host countries, including Syria, felt themselves overloaded, especially since with each wave, the people coming were poorer. The welcome mat was rolled up after the bombings of three international tourist hotels by Iraqi terrorists in 2005. As a result, the new refugees aren’t given anything beyond a 3-month tourist visa and of course no work permits. Jordan officially views them as “guests” rather than refugees, which means that the UNHCR can’t do their thing of providing shelter, education and other things that help people rebuild their lives. Anything that smacks of the aid being institutionalized is forbidden. (Handouts of food and medical care are welcome.)  From the point of view of the refugees themselves, this  lies at the heart of the deepening humanitarian crisis.  With  their dwindling  financial resources, lack of ability to support themselves, a real fear of deportation to face likely (and in some cases certain) death, and few countries being willing to offer them residency and no end to the war in sight, added to rampant PTSD, it is little wonder that they are discouraged and hopeless.  For me, the hardest part of listening to their stories is the hopelessness that I feel for them as well.

In addition to these refugees, there are also 2 million IDPs (internally displaced people) inside Iraq who are receiving neither help nor attention.

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Neither Ali nor his mother, however,  are hopeless. They still have an idea that maybe someday they can come to the US. Soldiers he has worked with have written glowing recommendations.  Meanwhile, it has been arranged that a Canadian man will send some money so that Ali can set up a small school to teach Iraqi kids. This would be illegal of course, but perhaps if it’s small enough and discrete enough,  it can go undetected. 

Women Worldwide Speak

Women Worldwide Speak is an outgrowth of The Afghan Women’s Project which I created in 2002 to dispel the view, so prevalent in the media of that time, of Afghan women as helpless victims. After traveling to Afghanistan in 2003 and interviewing 40 women in and from different parts of the country, I created an exhibit and series of slide presentations which I show around the US. (www.kelseys.net)

Now, four years later, I was again drawn to document the stories of women, this time of Iraqi refugee women living in Jordan.

So, now I’m here in Amman visiting agencies and conducting interviews. And of course photographing, but none of the faces will be included here. The majority of the Iraqi refugees living here are illegal.

Zahra, my translator, is a delightful woman, a one-woman social work agency. Her family life growing up was difficult. Although she was by far the best student, and voluntarily spent hours cleaning the house, her mother and siblings treated her badly, perhaps jealous of her academic prowess and her drive to improve her surroundings. Her father was her only ally, but he was taken away (They came to her house and arrested him) by Saddam’s henchmen when she was 11. Her brother, a pilot who lived the “high life”, was also taken away a few years later. After two years of torture and 10 years of confinement, he has become a strict fundamentalist Muslim. One day when she was 19, she came home to find that her mother had made an agreement to marry her off. It didn’t work out and now she lives with and supports her two teenage daughters.

When Zahra came to Jordan 9 years ago, she was given a 6-month visa, which she had to leave the country to renew and did several times. Since she speaks English, she was able to get work with an NGO (an international non-profit) and this opened up the path of social work for her. The NGO eventually went out of business, but Zahra has kept up her work connecting poor Iraqis with agencies who could help them. She supports herself by doing translation work as well as contract wedding photography.

May 13^th, she will begin a 3-month trip to the United States, taking training in Vermont and speaking in Philadelphia, the Seattle area and Texas. I will keep you posted on her itinerary as it develops.

May 3rd, 2007, the Iraqi parliament will vote on oil legislation that would give 70% of the oil profit the to the oil companies and 12% to Iraq. Currently, of course, when it’s all running, Iraq gets 100%. The parliament is expected to vote against this, of course, but everyone thinks that Malaki will overrule them. The fellow we talked with thinks that the Malaki gov’t. (executive branch) won’t last through the summer. We’ll see.

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