I want to mention Sami Risouli, former owner of
Sindbad's International Foods, as an unsung hero. He
left his life here to return to Iraq to help his
family and his people through the horrible war. I just
got an e-mail from him and am sharing it with the list
so you get an idea of what daily life is like for Sami
back in Iraq.
>From Sami's e-mail:
I'm sorry, my wishes for you of a happy new year come
little late from Iraq. I'm still working to get your
class with an Iraqi class via satellite connected.
Please forgive me for being late in writing to you.
Conditions in Najaf & Karbala:
In Najaf conditions are very bad and depressing. I
failed to keep communicating with you and friends via
the Internet for many reasons.
Shortage of water and electricity power is a big
problem in Najaf. I stayed one uneasy night at my aunt
Um Fadhil's home in downtown area of Najaf then
I moved to my uncle Abou Hider because my aunt and her
large size family did not have water for a week, in
many cases as I was told when their storage of water
runs out they transport filthy water from Euphrates
river which is severely contaminated with sewage waste
and other city's waste that deposited in this river!!
At my uncle's house electricity power keeps
interrupting and damaging everyone's daily life
activities by coming five minutes!! Imagine only
five minutes then shuts down for very long hours, I'm
sure whoever is running the electricity in Najaf is
plying games with the emotions of this poor city's
population.
In Karbala the situation is relatively different.
people here are in a better shape with their daily
planning because they know the electricity comes
and goes every three hours and it's amazingly
consistent pattern, so I'm in Karbala now as you can
tell. On Dec. 15 I met my cousin Mohammed in a funny
way. His wife was kidnapped before my visit last year
and still missing.He works as a mini-bus organizer
(dispatcher) at one of the main city inner
transportation station to support his 8 children.
While he was busy counting his earnings for the day on
the street that he collected from each driver about
$.25, I
snapped the money from his hands unannounced he was
shocked and scared of an robbery attempt. He almost
punched me in the face but I was well prepared to
avoid the attack. My other older cousin Adnan (his
brother) who guided me to Mohammed's work place was
behind me laughing then Mohammed recognized me, we
laughed, hugged and talked. He told me there was a
(red) security alert (a real one) of a
possible terror attack on city of Najaf, because the
authority in Najaf is busy looking for 15 bomb cars
that successfully entered into the city and they're
ready to explode. All the attention was focused at
important area in Najaf, but few hours later a huge
bomb blast took place in Karbala targeted the
Sistani Rep. Mr. Abdul Mahdi Al Karbala'i {his last
name goes after the city of Karbala}. He was injured
among other 40 people while 13 other got killed. This
attack happened not too far from my sister Samiah's
home where the windows glass was shattered as a
result.
I'm still busy gathering information from various
sources, areas, individuals and agencies that affected
by this horrible war, at the most people and
civilians of Fallujah who came to Karbala seeking
refuge, where the safety and security relatively
available for the time being. Late night when
everyone goes to sleep except lovers and truth
seekers, you can find me weeping in tears trying to
reconcile sad scenes I witnessed, horrible stories I
heard
and little very little I can do. I strive as defeated
sami looking for another morning to break, to grasp a
smile from Lumah's, Hudah's, Sajah's, Salmah's or
Sarah's beautiful innocent face(nieces ages 4-9)
giving me a reason for hope again. Recently I was
honored to acquire the membership of the Human rights
Watch, a
NGO Organization Karbala branch/Iraq which enables me
as a volunteer to move and provide my help freely
across the country.
On Dec.19th while I was visiting some friends downtown
Karbala there were 2 big explosions took place not too
far away from where I was, there was another deadly
one in Najaf!
=====
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead
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