To Sulaimaniya & Back: Part I

Saturday morning, August 18, 2012, the "seminarians", as I call ourselves, left Ankawa for a daytrip to Sulaymaniyah.  The 6 of us were transported in a Dodge mini-van driven by Mr. Nabil.  I have come to realize that in the Middle East there is no one way to spell a word.  The city of Sulaymaniyah is no exception.  It is also called Sulaimaniya, Sulaimani, Silemani or Slemani in the Kurdish language.  Sulaymaniya is about a 3 hour drive from Ankawa in a southeasterly direction.  Sulaymaniyah is considered the center of the Sorani Kurdish culture in Kurdistan. It is recognized officially as the cultural capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. The city is known for its open, relatively liberal and tolerant society when compared to other cities of Kurdistan and Iraq. 



We drove to Sulaymaniya basically to say we had been there.  For when we arrived at 11 am we quickly found out that most points of interest were closed ( it was the last day of Ramadan and many places were still closed ). We did, however, stop by the Chaldean Catholic Church of St. Joseph.  The pastor came out to greet us and to offer us some cold refreshments.  We enjoyed our time with him and then headed back towards Erbil and Ankawa.  There were points of interest along the return trip where we spent some time.

The first point of interest was a place called the Qzqaban Excavation.  It is the Zoroastrian tomb of King Cyaxares carved into the face of a cliff about 22 feet above ground level.  It overlooks the Razan River valley.   It is very old, around 585 B.C. It consisted of a hall, 3 rooms and 3 graves.

Relief carved from the face of the cliff, to the left of the entrance.

 

Above is the relief of 2 Median Magi priests worshipping their King Cyaxeres and their god Ahura Mazda.

The sun disk in the photo is to the right of the main entrance. 

Kathy, Mary, & Erin in front of the tomb.

View from the tomb, looking out over the Razan River valley.  The river is hidden among the line of "green" trees.

For more information about the excavation, go to the following web site:

http://qyzqapan.blogspot.com/

From the excavation site we drove a short distance down another canyon road to a place that was once the stomping grounds of the Peshmerga.  Peshmerga or Peshmerge is the term used by Kurds to refer to armed Kurdish fighters. Literally meaning "those who face death", the Peshmerga forces of Kurdistan have been in existence since the advent of the Kurdish independence movement in the early 1920s, following the collapse of the Ottoman and Qajar empires which had jointly ruled over the area. Many Kurds will say that all Kurds willing to fight for their rights are Peshmerga.  Because they hid in the many caves of the area, they were difficult for their enemies to root out.

This large cave had beds, shelves for storage, rooms, etc.  It was a headquarters type cave.

The ladies standing on the road in the canyon, with cliff walls full of caves on either side.

The Kurds are fighters and believe that they are the descendants of the Median King Cyaxares, whose tomb we had just visited.  I believe that the lyrics of the Kurdish National Anthem, "Ey Reqîb", says it all. 

 Ey Reqîb means"Oh, Enemy" or "Hey Enemy"

Oh, enemy, Kurdish people live on!

It shall not be defeated by the weapons of any age

Let no one say Kurds are dead!

The Kurds are living,

their flag will never fall

Watch our blood that we shed on this way

We are the descendants of the Medes and King Cyaxares (Kurdish: Keyxusrew), our religion is our nation

We, the youth are the red colour of the revolution

Let no one say Kurds are dead! They are living,

The Kurdish youth have risen like lions

To adorn the crown of life with blood

The Kurdish youth are ever present and

Forever will be ready to sacrifice their lives

Sacrifice each life they have, each life they have! 

You can hear it sung in Kurdish by going to the following link: "Ey Reqîb" Kurdish National Anthem

From here we went on to visit 2 other places.  I will write about them in Part II.

jw

Our Last Saturday in Kurdistan

Today is Saturday, August 18, 2012.  It is our last Saturday to be in Kurdistan.  Kathy and I will be departing for the States very early next Saturday a.m.  Things are quiet here at the seminary where we are staying.  Most of the expats have gone home already.  As I wrote in an earlier post, at one time there were 27 expats here to help with Mar Qardakh's summer program.  We have dwindled down to 12.  Of the 12, 6 are permanent hires who will be teaching at the school when classes resume in September.  They live in Ankawa, closer to the school.  Kathy and I and 4 others live at the seminary.  Where this once was a place of expat activity, it has now become as quiet as a church. 

This morning, we 6 "seminarians" will be going together on our final road trip.  Plans have been made on our behalf for us to travel by mini-van to the city of Sulaimaniya, or Sulaimanya as it is called on this map of Iraqi Kurdistan.  It is about a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive from Erbil or Arbil as it is called on the map. It is also very close to the Iranian border.  Not sure what we will do when we get there.  However, we are all looking forward to getting out and escaping from the monotony of the seminary.

Last night, our Iraqi cooks had the night off.  Therefore we went into town yesterday to do some grocery shopping for dinner and for this morning's breakfast as well.  Mary made a salad with lettuce and tomatoes.  It was the first time I had had a lettuce salad since our arrival.  Kathy made a nice roasted vegetable side dish.  She also surprised us all with plenty of ice tea!  Our meat dish was supplied by one of the local vendors down the road.  It was lamb kabobs.  It was all very delicious!  And the fellowship at mealtime was awesome.  We had a very good evening as we reminisced about the summer program at the school and about the road trips we had already taken.

Looking forward to seeing the sights of Sulaimaniya.  Hope to post photos of our adventures on this blog tomorrow.

jw

Last Day of Classes at Mar Qardakh: Hugs & Tears

As mentioned in the previous post, yesterday, August 16, 2012 was the last day of classes for the Mar Qardakh School summer program.  It was a day spent bidding farewells to all the kids and some of the teachers.  There was very little teaching going on in the classrooms.
 
In the course of the summer program, along with English,  I had taught 5 separate classes to speak some "Texas" language by introducing the Texas greeting of "Howdy!".  All of my students knew this word and would practice using it whenever they caught sight of me.  Yesterday morning it occurred to me that I had failed to teach the word "ya'll" to the students of Mar Qardakh.   Therefore, I took advantage of a 10 minute time slot in home room to teach some 5/6 graders this new word.  They quickly grasped the concept and it was a fait accompli.

Mar Qardakh's summer program consisted of 5 separate majors that students were divided into.  They were Drama, Art, Music, Computer, and Gym.  Stevy Kakony and I were 3/4 grade Drama teachers.  After attendance was taken in homeroom, we would have our 1st period Drama students.  We chose Little Red Ridinghood as the play to teach the kids.  They performed this yesterday to a small audience of their peers.  They were very, very good!  I was so proud of them.  They knew their lines by heart, they spoke very good English, and they dramatically presented the play while speaking loud enough for the audience to hear without microphones.  Good job students!!  Also to be commended for all of her hard work is Stevy Kakony, my partner/teacher for 3/4 grade Drama.  She did an outstanding job of teaching English as well as Drama.

This is Ms. Stevy, my co-teacher.  She has a degree in Engish from Salahaddin University, which is in Erbil.

I proudly present to you the Mar Qardakh School 3/4 Grade Drama class.  Yeah!!!!!!

Stevy and I taught Drama to these students during 1st period, Sunday thru Thursday.
Girl on 2nd row, 3rd from left, is named Santa.  She reminds me of Kharina, our granddaughter.

Upon announcing that Kathy and I were returning to the States, several in the class started to cry.  Many came forward to give me hugs and to tell me that they loved me.  Many gave me multiple hugs.  I will miss all of them a great deal!!  They are forever in my heart!!!

This is a photo of our 2nd period class of Art majors. We taught these kids on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Marlese, in the front row wearing red pants, reminded me a lot of Kharina's mom, Ashlin.  Nancy is wearing my hat. Onel was the only boy in this class. He is in the back row with the yellow shirt.

This is a photo of our 3rd period class of Gym majors.  We taught these kids on Sunday. Monday, & Tuesday.  They were a handful and always kept Stevy & I on our toes.

This is a photo of our Wednesday-Thursday 2nd period class of Music majors.

This is a photo of our Wednesday-Thursday 3rd period class of Computer majors.

Leaving Texas to travel to Iraq was not anything Kathy and I ever thought about doing.  The overall experience has been very, very good .  Both of us have grown spiritually in ways that we could not have imagined.  The way in which we see ourselves as part of God's family has changed.  No longer are Iraqis some unknown people across the globe, or a people whose story is not completely told by the American media.  The Chaldean Catholics and the Christians of Iraq, indeed the Christans of the whole world, are also living stones which make up the Temple of our God.  Their sufferings are our sufferings.  They are not " those people" with whom we never have contact or do not wish to have contact with.  They are our dear brothers and sisters who want us to know that they do not want to be forgotten,  Their hopes and dreams are the same as our hopes and dreams.

Brothers and sisters, please pray for the Church in Iraq.  They need your prayers more than you will ever know.

jw

Final Days in Ankawa

Dear brothers and sisters,

Today, August 15, 2012 is the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven.  For non-Catholic readers of this blog, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven, is informally known as The Assumption.  According to the Christian beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, and parts of Anglicanism, the Assumption was the bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her earthly life.  Protestants would use the term "Raptured".
The Roman Catholic Church teaches as dogma that the Virgin Mary "having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory." This doctrine was dogmatically and infallibly defined by Pope Pius XII on November 1, 1950, in his Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus. While Catholic dogma leaves open the question of Mary's death before rising to Heaven, the Eastern Orthodox tradition of the Dormition of the Theotokos teaches that Mary died and then rose to Heaven. In the churches which observe it, the Assumption is a major feast day, commonly celebrated on August 15. In many Catholic countries, the feast is also marked as a Holy Day of Obligation.
The Sacred Tradition behind this feast dates back to the very early church.  St. John of Damascus, 7th century A.D., formulated the tradition of the Church of Jerusalem in his writings:

St. Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem, at the Council of Chalcedon (451 A.D.), made known to the Emperor Marcian and Pulcheria, who wished to possess the body of the Mother of God, that Mary died in the presence of all the Apostles, but that her tomb, when opened, upon the request of St. Thomas, was found empty; wherefrom the Apostles concluded that the body was taken up to heaven.

 Pieter-Paul Rubens; Assumption of the Devine and Holy Virgin Mary; 17th century


Thus, Mar Qardakh School, at the request of Archbishop Bashar Warda, has declared today to be a holiday for all teachers and students.  Therefore, since we have the day off, Patrick, Mary, Kathy & I arose at our usual time and went to 6:30 Mass at Mar Giwargis Church (St. George).  Mass attendance was high, but mainly older people, who you would consider as retirees, made up the congregation.

Also going on in Iraq and other countries with Muslim populations is Ramadan. 
Ramadan (Arabic: رمضان) is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and the month in which Muslims believe the Qur'an was revealed.  Fasting during the month of Ramadan is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. The month is spent by Muslims fasting during the daylight hours from dawn to sunset. Muslims believe that the Qur'an was sent down to the lowest heaven during this month, thus being prepared for gradual revelation by Jibraeel (Gabriel) to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Furthermore, Muhammad told his followers that the gates of Heaven would be open all the month and the gates of Hell (Jahannam) would be closed. The first three days of the next month, Shawwal, is spent in celebrations and is observed as the "Festival of Breaking Fast" or Eid ul-Fitr ( Eid ).

In Iraq, the Eid begins this Sunday, August 19, 2012.  Last Sunday, August 12, the Kurdistan Autonomous Region announced a decision, that all of next week, beginning on Sunday, August 19, will be an official holiday on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr.

You may be asking yourself: why I am troubling you with all of this info?   Well dear brothers and sisters, all this leads me to tell you that the last day of classes for the Mar Qardakh summer program will be tomorrow, August 16, 2012 instead of next Tuesday, August 21.

 It is with sadness that I post this blog.  I have come to know and greatly love the Iraqi people.  Even now as I pen these words, tears are welling up in my eyes as I realize how much they have become a part of my heart, and how much I will miss them.  Yesterday, Tuesday, there were so many kids of all ages, not just the 3rd & 4th graders that I teach, that said goodbye to me.  Many gave me hugs, others shook my hand or wanted a high 5.

Very soon Kathy and I will be leaving Ankawa, Iraq and returning to the USA.



 We are scheduled to leave Erbil August 25, 2012 and fly to JFK.  However, we will not return to the Dallas-Ft. Worth area until mid-September.  We have made plans to spend some time with Kathy's family in New York.


View of Buffalo, New York skyline.  Buffalo City Hall in center of photo.

Our decision to return home was not an easy one for reasons that I have already mentioned. However, some of the final questions we had were answered in such a way that we knew that the Lord was calling us back to Texas.  However, Kathy and I both believe that He has something else in store for us.  Life for us will never be the same.  We know and understand that when the Lord calls one out of one's perceived "comfort zone", that He has innumerable blessings to shower down on those who are not afraid to say yes to His call.  Kathy and I have been immeasurably blessed.  Furthermore, we look forward with great anticipation to what the Lord has planned for the remainder of our lives.  We hope and prayer that when He calls, that he also give us the grace to respond with a quick "Yes".

We have also become aware of the greater joy and happiness we experienced in living a much simpler life style.  Simplicity consisted of better food, very little TV, few trips to go out shopping, no meetings to attend in the evening, relying on public transportaion or walking to get where we needed to go, reading more, and writing more to family, friends, and loved ones.  Both of us are in agreement that we will be looking for ways to live more simply once we return to our home in Garland.



One of the positives of returning home will be to once again understand the spoken word at Mass.  Also, we very much look forward to reuniting with our family and friends, and the Christian Community of God's Delight.  We have greatly missed the General Sunday gatherings of our beloved Community.

I hope to have photos of the kids I taught and the teachers I worked with in my next post.  Until then, may our Heavenly Father abundantly bless each of you and all of your loved ones.

jw.

The Citadel of Erbil; or in Kurdish "Qelay Hewlêr"

On Saturday, Aug. 4, 2012, our band of expats boarded a bus to go to the center of Erbil.  Our goal was to tour the Citadel.   It has been claimed that the site is the oldest continuously inhabited town in the world. There is evidence that people have inhabited this site for 8000 years.  Many conquerors have come and gone.  But of particular note is the Mongol conquest in 1259 after a six month seige.  The Mongols appointed a Christian governor to the town and there was an influx of Jacobites, who were allowed to build a church. Persecutions of Christians started however in 1289, leading up to the massacre of all Christians in both the lower town and the citadel town in 1310.  Therefore the area we visited was a place of martyrdom for many, many people. 

North gate entrance at the top of the citadel.  Kathy on left in yellow top.

View from north gate looking out over Erbil towards Ankawa.

Some of the restored buildings.

Winding path to the east side of the Citadel where the nobility and royalty lived.

Ruins of dwellings.

More single family dwellings.

We finally reach the ruins of the nobility.

View from a Citadel window, looking east out over the Qaysari Market ( bazaar ).

From the courtyard of a wealthy person's home.  All of the following photos are of another wealthy person's home.  The murals on the walls are incredible.  The attention to detail, including the ceilings, showed that the owners had been a family of great wealth.

Look at the remains of this brick wall.  Very interesting way to lay brick.

View of another courtyard in the rizty part of the Citadel.

After our visit to the Citadel, we descended to street level to do some shopping at the Qaysari Market.  I did not take many photos.  I seemed to draw a great deal of attention to myself whenever I pulled out my camera inside the bazaar.  Therefore, I have provided an excellent link that someone has created with superb pictures of the bazaar.  I hope you take the time to look at them.  The photographer has truly captured the essence and the reality of the bazaar.

Photos of the Qaysari Market

jw

3rd Road Trip-To Zakho & the Turkish Border

On Saturday, July 28, 2012 our band of explorers headed east from Zakho.  Our first destination was the village of Bersawa.  We went to the church of St. George.  People in this part of the world have a great devotion to St. George as there are many churches named in his honor.  Since it was Saturday morning, religion classes for children were in progress.  They knew we were coming to visit and all the classes had prepared a song to sing for us as we went from classroom to classroom.

The kids singing and doing hand motions for the song.  Michael Schaad knew the song and hand motions too, so he joined in, delighting all the kids.

Our group of travellers posed in the church courtyard in front of a large statue of St. George slaying the dragon.  The nun in the picture runs the school at the church.  The elder gentleman in the front row, below the horse's tail, was born in Bersawa.  His English was very good and he told us many stories.  After our visit to the church, we walked around the village a bit.  The elder gentleman took us to the site of his ancestral home.  Below follows pictures of what remains of that home.

During the early years of Saddam's regime, he had to deal with Kurdish rebels throughout Kurdistan.  The boyhood home of our host was a large two story structure that was being used as a hospital by the rebel forces.  The ruins that you see in the pictures are what remains after it was bombed by Saddam's air force.

After touring the village, we went to Father's home ( the priest in blue ) for some air conditioning and some refreshments.  He answered any questions that we had.  He is a married priest with four children.  He use to be a civil engineer in Bagdad.  He is in the north due to violence against Christians in Bagdad.  He has done a great deal for the people of the village and surrounding area.

After our visit to Bersawa, we went to a smaller village to see the church.  The people depended on agriculture to sustain theirselves.  Their roots in the village and their ties to the land go back many, many generations.

 A view of the area around the village.

As the church was named after Saint Abraham, this is the mural above the altar.

Then it was off to the mountains for lunch.

 We drove along a valley road for some time.  The mountains on both sides of the valley were quite remarkable.

We arrived to a spot where there was a shallow stream flowing with cold water.  Much to our surprise, the church community of Zakho had arranged for us to have a picnic, Kurdistan style.  That meant that the table and chairs were placed in the water.  We were obliged to take off our socks and shoes in order to enjoy the feast that had been prepared for us.

It was the first time in weeks for me to experience the sensation of cold and refreshing water!

The food was so good that I couldn't get my subjects to stop eating in order to smile for the camera.

After lunch, we packed up and headed back to Ankawa.  We had a four hour bus trip ahead of us and did not arrive until 9:30 p.m. that evening.  Our visit to Zakho and beyond gave each of us a greater appreciation for the faith that has been handed down to us by previous generations.  Our hope and prayer is that we continue to be strong in the faith so that their sacrifices were not in vain.

 jw