Yuan, Courtney, and the team translator led two English classes at the local youth activities center.  The first group was quiet and "shy," but the team sang songs together which got almost everyone involved.  The team decided to bring "We Shall Overcome" translated into Arabic and Kurdish and English for all to learn at the next meeting.

Thursday, 2 December 2010

The team made plans with local partners to attend the guitar workshop at the youth center next week.

Sunday, 5 December 2010

The team met with local friends and partners to plan a New Year’s party.  Another partner visited in the afternoon.  He asked if the team could help his cousin through his residency processes in Belgium by writing a letter to corroborate that the cousin was, in fact, living in Suleimaniyah after he left an armed group.  Team members decided not to write the letter, because they did not know this cousin or his situation personally.

Monday, 6 December 2010

The team started work on translating video footage.

Tuesday, 7 December 2010

Islamic New Year.

The team visited a friend at his grandmother's home located in one of the oldest areas of Suleimaniyah.  He spoke with the team for an hour about his upcoming trip to Turkey.  He hopes to connect with UN and be given asylum, after which he would like to study, earn his degree and return to this region to work for change.

Wednesday 8 December 2010

The team led English classes at the youth activities center and worked with the classes to learn the song “We Shall Overcome” in Kurdish, Arabic, and English.

Thursday, 9 December 2010

The team went to Raniya and invited the guitar group to perform in the New Year’s party in Suleimaniyah.  The guitarists played three songs and Courtney sang “We Shall Overcome “ with them in English and Kurdish.

Saturday, 11 December 2010

A small group from Pana for Peace came from Kirkuk to meet with the team for an hour.  Together, they discussed planning for a 25 December event.  The team invited Pana to take an hour of the party to read poems and articles they have written and to perform music.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Yuan accompanied a partner to the city of Hawler to meet with MCC.  This partner hopes that MCC will support a project she is working on to offer sustainable food and income to IDP families through livestock.

Saturday, 18 December 2010

The team attended a protest led by Various NGOs and the Gorran Political Alliance (a local political party).  Parliament secretly passed a law putting restrictions on public demonstrations, which NGOs say will make it very difficult for people to demonstrate for justice without high legal risk.  NGOs asked President Barzani to send the law back to Parliament before signing it, in order to make time for public discussion of the issue.  But, while the NGOs were still negotiating with Barzani, they found out that he had (also secretly) signed the law into practice days before.  This event sparked the protest.  Afterward, the NGO staff held a meeting to discuss steps for amending this law.

Saturday, 25 December 22010

The New Year’s Party started at 10:00 a.m.  The guitar group from Rania, the Pana group of youth from Kirkuk, and the English class students in the Suleimaniyah youth center all joined the party.  The team led everyone in games, and the guests performed songs, poems, and music.

A partner from Kirkuk asked the other youth to write some words for the people in Kirkuk.  They wrote,