CPTnet
20 June 2009
IRAQ UPDATE: May 2009

People on the Iraq team during may were Sophia Hochstedler,  Craig Kite, Michele Naar-Obed, Gerald Paoli, and Chihchun Yuan.

SUMMARY:
The team began packing and saying goodbye to friends and partners in Suleimaniya to make the move to Sheladze. However, after a series of conversations with the people of Sheladze, the team realized it did not have  enough trusted advisors and friends in that area and that a premature move to Sheladze might jeopardize the entire project.  The team reflected, prayed, and discerned deeply about this difficulty and decided to stay in Suleimaniya.

6 May
Chihchun Yuan and Michele Naar-Obed obtained one-year residency cards and Craig Kite obtained a six-month residency card through the Suleimaniya Residency Office. The Residency Office provided the cards without requiring CPT to have a local sponsor for full and part time team members. The Minister of Interior granted CPT permission to work anywhere within the KRG.

12 May
The team visited the internally displaced people's (IDP) camp in Zharawa and  spoke with the camp leader about the plan to remain in Suleimaniya. "My  prayers have been answered," he said with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye.  The team and camp representative set about making a plan to document  the stories of the 137 displaced families from eleven villages that live at the camp and submit their stories to government authorities, the United Nations, and NGOs that could use them to advocate for the safety and well being of the IDPs.

19 May
The team met with representatives from the eleven villages to discuss the  documentation project.  They expressed gratitude for the work.  "When you look at us now, we are not the people that you see," one village leader told CPT. "We used to have a life of dignity.  We took care of our guests. We offered our guests food and tea.  Now we can barely offer you cold water," he continued. "We want our lives of dignity back. We are very happy that you will work with us to raise our voices to the world," he concluded.

Kite put together an extensive list of NGOs that are interested in receiving reports about the Zharawa IDP Camp.  The team worked on a thorough budget revision and evaluated cheaper transportation options. The team also looked at cheaper housing options in Suleimaniya

25 May 2009
CPTers Chihchun Yuan, Sophia Hochstedler, and Michele Naar-Obed interviewed four members of Women for Peace at the Makhmoor Refugee Camp.  The organization consists of over 1000 Kurdish mothers in Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Iraq. The Mothers in the Makhmoor camp have a particularly difficult time having their voices heard because they live in the refugee camp.   Following the interview, Yuan and Naar-Obed completed a video and published it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEFoj5H_KHo.



27 May 2009

The team held an undoing racism session in which the team's translator also participated.



28 May 2009

Craig Kite, Gerald Paoli and Naar-Obed interviewed one of the Zharawa tent camp members for the comprehensive human rights report CPT is preparing about the IDPs  of the Pshdar District.  "We have three things we fear about our current situation," the camp member told us.  "We fear that there will be no life left in our villages because the bombing from Turkey and Iran is ongoing; we are afraid that disease will come to the camp, and we are afraid that the pressure of being IDPs will cause psychological hardship and will deteriorate our physical health," he told CPTers.