IRAQ REFLECTION: Their fear and pain continue
December 16th, 2008
in:
CPTnet
16 December 2008
IRAQ REFLECTION: Their fear and pain continue
By Peggy Gish
"We can't stay here!" the leader of the Zharawa displaced person tent camp in the Suleimaniya Governorate near the Iranian border told us. "There is bombing back in our villages (1 to 4 kilometres away) day and night. And we are afraid being here too. Last year bombs hit this area."
As our six-member team sat around in a tent, a group of men and women living there poured out their complaints and fears. "Because of the increased bombing not so far away, the teachers in the school we started (in a nearby tent) left." " It is getting cold now, and soon the snows will come and we won't be able to travel back and forth to the nearest town." “Those of us who still have animals can't afford to buy feed for our animals, but can't go back to our farms." "Please talk to the
Department of Agriculture to try to get some help for us."
We discussed their plan to move to a plot of land outside the Zharawa village. Relief agencies have arranged for local contractors to construct the foundations for them to build small block houses. "But, the process is too slow," they complained, "Please try to get them to do it faster. Most of us can't afford to buy or rent a house." Later, when we called the contractor, she told us it might take two months to complete their work.
As we walked around the camp, an older woman spoke to us with much emotion. "Back in my village, I used to have gardens and feed other families. I had animals. Now, I have nothing!" At the edge of the Zharawa Camp, a man living in one of the nearby villages was grazing his sheep here because his village was currently being bombed.
In a shallow cave up the hillside from the camp, we watched as two women were rolling out and baking "nanny tieri," a very thin bread, on a hot metal disc over a bed of coals. They put some homemade goat cheese in some dough and folded it over before baking and gave it to us to share.
During the four and half hours in the camp that day, we counted four times that we heard bombs explode in the distance. Our hosts thought it was from rockets and shelling from Iranian tanks. Then just as we were leaving there was another round of explosions.
Later that evening, when we returned home to Suleimaniya, our hearts were heavy when we got a call from the Zharawa Camp leader, telling us that the bombing was becoming heavier in the villages beyond their camp and that one person remaining in the villages was injured.
Our team continues to discuss with these humble farmers and shepherds additional accompaniment possibilities, as governments make deals to protect their own interests, and authorities and agencies get bogged down in policies and procedures.
In the meantime the fear and pain of the villagers continue.
16 December 2008
IRAQ REFLECTION: Their fear and pain continue
By Peggy Gish
"We can't stay here!" the leader of the Zharawa displaced person tent camp in the Suleimaniya Governorate near the Iranian border told us. "There is bombing back in our villages (1 to 4 kilometres away) day and night. And we are afraid being here too. Last year bombs hit this area."
As our six-member team sat around in a tent, a group of men and women living there poured out their complaints and fears. "Because of the increased bombing not so far away, the teachers in the school we started (in a nearby tent) left." " It is getting cold now, and soon the snows will come and we won't be able to travel back and forth to the nearest town." “Those of us who still have animals can't afford to buy feed for our animals, but can't go back to our farms." "Please talk to the
Department of Agriculture to try to get some help for us."
We discussed their plan to move to a plot of land outside the Zharawa village. Relief agencies have arranged for local contractors to construct the foundations for them to build small block houses. "But, the process is too slow," they complained, "Please try to get them to do it faster. Most of us can't afford to buy or rent a house." Later, when we called the contractor, she told us it might take two months to complete their work.
As we walked around the camp, an older woman spoke to us with much emotion. "Back in my village, I used to have gardens and feed other families. I had animals. Now, I have nothing!" At the edge of the Zharawa Camp, a man living in one of the nearby villages was grazing his sheep here because his village was currently being bombed.
In a shallow cave up the hillside from the camp, we watched as two women were rolling out and baking "nanny tieri," a very thin bread, on a hot metal disc over a bed of coals. They put some homemade goat cheese in some dough and folded it over before baking and gave it to us to share.
During the four and half hours in the camp that day, we counted four times that we heard bombs explode in the distance. Our hosts thought it was from rockets and shelling from Iranian tanks. Then just as we were leaving there was another round of explosions.
Later that evening, when we returned home to Suleimaniya, our hearts were heavy when we got a call from the Zharawa Camp leader, telling us that the bombing was becoming heavier in the villages beyond their camp and that one person remaining in the villages was injured.
Our team continues to discuss with these humble farmers and shepherds additional accompaniment possibilities, as governments make deals to protect their own interests, and authorities and agencies get bogged down in policies and procedures.
In the meantime the fear and pain of the villagers continue.
