by Peggy Gish

"How do you like Suleimaniya?"  Rabeen, * a Kurdish teenager still in secondary school, asked us while we visited in his home.  After we answered that the people here are friendly and hospitable, he told us, "You come here thinking Suleimaniya is very nice.  People who just visit don't see the bad side.  There are so many problems here.  There are the rich people like those who build the big buildings.  They say that things are good here, but you will hear something different from those who barely have enough to live on.  We are not rich."  He and others in the room went on to say, "the hospitals and medical care are not good.  The school system is poor. Because there are not enough schools, each building holds three shifts a day."

"If we have high enough scores on our exams, we can go to the university for free," two secondary school students in Suleimaniya told us. One hoped to be an engineer, the other, a lawyer.  Earlier we had talked to university students who were placed in a particular field of study they did not want, but according to their scores.

"You can choose your field of study if you have high enough marks, but not if they aren't," they told us.  They longed to be in a society where they had more of a choice.

According to a recent survey made by Youth's Empowerment Organization in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), the majority of youth are trying to emigrate from this area.  The reasons youth gave included poor living conditions, economic problems, and lack of trust between government and youth.  The predominant factor, however, was the lack of personal freedom.

In one of the public parks in Suleimaniya, a group of young adults, mostly university students have been living in tents since early September. They are asking the government for changes in policies and more benefits to young adults.  "Kurdish youth here have little hope for the future," said Kazan*," one of the leaders of the group.  The government is corrupt.  Life is hard because of little available electricity and water and other services.  After graduating from the university, we have a difficult time getting a job. To get a good job and other social services you have to join one of the main political parties."  Among their demands are an end to that practice and a youth center that would include an office that would help them find employment.

I see a tension between those who want to protect their political power and the economic and social benefits this gives them, and those who recognize that changes in the economic and political structures are inevitable and need to come.  Many we talk to seem to understand that not only is change necessary to keep Kurdish youth from leaving their society, but that the youth are a creative and important resource for birthing that change.