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6-1-09
Hi everyone!!! Many Many MANY thanks
for the boxes from the MMT!!! I opened
them with my roommates, read the card,
and could just imagine the love and
blessings that went into the box along
WITH all of the great things you
sent!!! It's amazing how some coffee
and peanut butter can brighten your
day, along with the socks and the face
cream! The sun is getting strong here
now, although not as strong as in Yuma
yet. Sorry....
I found a place where women can
exercise outside - there's a big park
in town called "Parki Azadi" which
means "Freedom Park." It's a place
that was once a place used for bad by
Saddam, so now it's used for good by
everyone in my city!! There's an
amusement park with rides, but also a
beautiful park with trees, bushes,
flowers, etc. There's also a nice road
that goes around the inside of the
park (no cars are allowed, so even
nicer!) that is about 2 km, a little
over a mile. Some of my Kurdish
professor friends told me that women
would be allowed to exercise there
early in the morning, and you know me,
I'm an early in the morning kind of
person. So this morning I woke my
roommate Ruth up, and off we went!
There were actually quite a few people
there at 5:30 am, and even a few women
besides us. Of course, those women
were totally covered, but we had long
pants and long sleeve t-shirts on, so
were ok. On our second time around, a
man from a TV station was setting his
camera up and asked if he could
interview me for the news. Of course,
I said yes! He asked me why I was
exercising, and I told him that
exercise was important to everyone,
and that all Kurds should come to the
park in the morning. He asked if I
came every morning, and I told him
that it was my first morning, but that
I'd be back every morning!!! My
roommate Ruth laughed as we took off
running again, and said that I
probably did more for exercise in
Kurdistan than anyone in history.
She's betting that the park will be
packed tomorrow morning with people
looking for the blue-eyed American
girl!! hahaha Whatever it takes, as
long as I get to exercise!!!! This was
one of those very "freeing" moments
that made me see the progress here and
give me hope!!
I also had another freeing moment
yesterday -- I GOT TO DRIVE AROUND IN
THE CITY!!!!! I had told my boss
previously that I was pretty sure I
could get around because I had been
paying attention since arriving, and
that our city is pretty easy to
navigate. His wife was returning to
Suleimaniyah after being gone because
her father had surgery a few weeks
ago. So Mary Jane and I were helping
clean his house so that his wife could
come home to a nice, clean house. All
of a sudden he said, "DeeDee, could
you drive to the store for me and pick
up a few things?" YOU BETCHA!!!! You'd
have been proud of me!! I drove just
like a Kurd - honking the horn all the
way and squeezing the car where no car
should go!!!! (and, of course, I
didn't wreck!!) Anyway, yesterday I
felt just more than a little bit
"normal" if ya know what I mean!! I
think he was trying to make me feel
that way, too!!
Egypt
was a nice place to visit!! It's one
of those countries that has three
officially-recognized religions:
Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. We
got to go inside a mosque, a
synagogue, and a Coptic church. All
very interesting. It was my first
time inside each of these places! The
Sinai Peninsula was amazing!!! All of
the history that happened there...We
went to Mt. Sinai, where Moses
received the stone tablets, to the
well of Moses, swam and dove in the
Red Sea (I could just imagine all of
the people walking through..) I went
snorkeling around looking for ancient
artifacts, but so have millions before
me, so didn't find any. I DO have a
piece of the Great Pyramid at Giza,
though! We rode the camels through the
desert to get out there and got to
ride right up to them, as opposed to
the tourists in the buses who had to
stay on the road behind the fences.
NICE!! Anyway, we rode up, and he just
reached up, broke three chunks off of
the pyramid and gave them to us!!!
Amazing!!! I'll have to find some way
to display it when I get home!! (I
wonder if that's how the Sphynx lost
his nose...kidding). Many of the men
here in Egypt have a large black bump
on the center of their forehead. I
asked an Egyptian friend why, and he
said that it's because of the men
bowing to pray five times daily and
banging their heads on the ground.
It's not just a black mark, but a
permanent callous!!
I got a great picture of an
oxymoron on the bus riding back to
Cairo from the Sinai Peninsula. A man
with one of those black bumps was
wearing a polo shirt with a large
cross and a picture of a crusader on
it. I asked him if I could take a
picture and he said, “Of course!” So
I've got it!
There are very few Americans in
Egypt, so people love talking to us,
just like in Iraq! One young man
working at the airport was just
tickled that I stood and had
conversation with him, because he said
that I was the first American woman he
had ever talked to in his life!! I've
found that it's easy to talk to
people, because everyone wants to talk
to me. Then, I found out that it's
easy to talk about our Father and
Brother, because all I have to do is
ask a question about their beliefs,
and then talk about ours. I always try
to point out the common beliefs before
the differences, and it seems to work.
Planting seeds, just planting seeds!!!
Maybe I'll be the "DeeDee Appleseed"
of Iraq and Egypt!! Hope so!!!
We're
still on vacation from teaching for
two more weeks, but I have to write
the curriculum for the last 2 months
of the program, even though I'll only
be around for a few weeks of it. I'm
going to get started with that today
when I'm done with this letter.
I taught the BEST lesson for my
last one before exams!!! (even if I am
saying so myself...) I taught about
holidays and festivals and had my
students teach about holidays and
festivals. We all taught about the
religious aspects of the holidays, and
about all of the customs, food, ways
people celebrate, etc about each one.
I taught about Easter (both the
religions and secular aspects). They
taught about Ramazan, I taught about
Christmas; they taught about Eid, I
taught about Thanksgiving; they taught
about Qurban, I taught about
Halloween; they taught about Newroz,
and I taught about Valentines Day. On
the secular side, I baked them
Christmas cookies, boiled eggs for
them to decorate, taught them "Jingle
Bells" (I recorded it - very cute),
taught them to trick-or-treat, and had
them write love poems in a heart. On
OUR side, I taught them about the
fashion and importance of His birth,
His DBR in the spring season, the joy
of giving thanks EVERY day, not just
on Thanksgiving day, the occult side
of Halloween, and about His love for
all of us with the Valentine cards. I
felt it was my MOST productive lesson
of the year, and so did they! I had
them write about it later on, and they
really enjoyed hearing about WHY those
holidays are celebrated in some
countries around the world but not
this one. Students and many of the
professors are "all ears" and "all
questions" during conversations with
me, so He is really the One who is
causing the seeds to be spread!!!! TYJ!!!
OK - a long enough letter for now.
It's Sunday morning, so tonight while
I'm at my meeting, I'll be thinking of
all of you at yours!!!! I love you
and appreciate you so much!!!!! Zor
zor supas w Birtan akan!!!! (Thanks so
so much, and I miss all of you!!!)
Love, DeeDee
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6-7-09
This is an interesting picture of a
guy I saw in Egypt. He was SO excited
that I wanted to take HIS picture
(usually it's the other way around...)
but I had to show the unusual merging
of 2 cultures... Notice the black
callous on his forehead. It's not
just a mark, but a callous. Many M
men have them from bowing down 5 times
daily to pr-y. Their head hits the rug
and after years and years of this,
they get a black callous with a bump
and everything. Now, notice his shirt
- It has a picture of a Crusader on
it!!! I'm sure that it was given to
him, or that he got it from the used
bazaar, but my hope would be that one
day he would KNOW and LOVE the True
Meaning of his shirt!!! Keep thinking
about all of my pals over here that
need to know Him - I do!!!!! Love
ya!!! DeeDee |
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6-7-09
From Dee
Dee's Roommate:
I don't
usually take someone else's story, but
I feel that most of the people on my
forward list won't hear it if I don't.
It's about D. my roommate. She has
enthusiasm and a zest for life that
cannot be contained (and probably
shouldn't). In a land where women are
supposed to be subdued, she can walk
into a room full of covered, shy
ladies, and bring the house down. They
love her so much. Ever since she has
been here, she has expressed a desire
to see Mam Jalal (the president of
Iraq). The opportunity arose this week
when a friend called and asked if she
would like to go and see some
political speeches. She was alone and
had nothing else to do, so she agreed.
As usually happens with those of us
who are from our humanitarian
organization, she was escorted to the
front row. You will never guess who
the most honored speaker was? Mam
Jalal. Not only that, she got to sit
next to his wife, Hero (who, by the
way, is one of my heroes over here).
As she sat listening to him speak, she
waved at him each time his eyes went
in her direction. She was like a
schoolgirl infatuated with the
circumstance. When the speeches were
over she made a beeline for the steps
that he would come down, as she wanted
to get a picture standing next to him.
Of course, he was surrounded by
security men. As she was standing on
the steps, a student came by and asked
if he could have his picture taken
with her (a common thing that happens
around here...the proverbial picture
with the foreigner that you have never
met). The student was shooed away as
was the young man who had escorted D.
to the event. D. again waved with
enthusiasm to the president and
yelled, "I want to meet you!!!!!!!!"
He motioned for her to come over to
him. She shook his hand and he gave
her a hug. They posed for the picture,
and later, to her dismay, the person
taking the picture didn't work the
camera right. The picture didn't get
taken. She has been floating on a
cloud ever since. An observation that
I had in the telling of the story is
how approachable Mam Jalal was. He had
many guards, keeping people away, but
this incident shows that he has an
approachable heart to let D. come to
him. I understand now why sometimes my
students ask me to give a message to
President Obama. They think it is in
the realm of possibility, as it is in
this country. Mary Jane
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6-10-09
Hi, Laretta! I have a great story and
some nice pics to show you. This kid
is a 17 year old named Bahzad. Nine
weeks ago he dove into shallow water
and broke his C4/5/6 with an
incomplete spinal cord injury at C5
(that's at the base of the neck, but I
think you know that). My roommate Ruth
introduced me to him and his family
and we hit it off right away - him,
his mom and dad, his 2 older sisters,
younger brother and sister, and ALL of
the cousins from all over Kurdistan!!!
They're a really close, loving family,
who dotes on Bahzad and takes care of
his every need. They took me in, and
now I'm "Aunt DeeDee" to Bahzad and
the rest of his siblings, which YOU
KNOW I love! Anyway, last week Ruth
and I were talking about how nice it
would be to get Bahzad in a wheelchair
and up and around instead of him lying
on the floor in the middle room with
everyone sta nding
around him when they'd come to visit
(except us because we'd sit or lie on
the floor next to him to talk, do
therapy, etc). I e-mailed my sister
(because she has 2 in wheelchairs) and
asked her for some ideas on how to get
a wheelchair donated for over here.
She sent me 4 links so I wrote 4
letters, and within 2 hours had 2 "yesses"
back - one for a manual chair which
his family could put in a car or taxi
to take him around, and one for a
power chair, which he could use around
the house, neighborhood, etc!!!!!!
Absolutely amazing!!! Then - the
problem of how to get them here--Joni
Erickson Tada is shipping the m anual
one to my parents, who are shipping it
here through the APO, and a woman
named Lisa Murphy, whose husband is
the chair builder, is having him make
the power chair in the next 2 weeks
before they leave for Africa and we
found a guy here in Iraq who works for
a cargo company that works for Royal
Jordanian Air. We're going to get it
to either NY, or Chicago and get it
shipped here. A group from Ireland
donated the money to pay for the
shipping on the 2nd one ($400, but
still great because otherwise we'd
never get one here!!!!) and it will be
here 7-10 days after it leaves the
States!!!! This kid went from a kid
lying on the floor pretty listlessly,
to a kid who's energized, motivated,
and super happy all the time!! He was
a joker before the accident, but his
family says that now he's getting back
to his old self!! They're VERY strict
M, so this has been a GREAT ch ance
to share our beliefs with them! Seeds,
seeds, and more seeds! Anyway - I love
going to see this family every day
because it's so uplifting, and just
wanted to tell you that pr-yers are
still being answered on this side of
the world!!!!
Oh, another cool thing! We have been
looking around for a recliner for him
because he was getting a terrible
pressure sore from lying on the floor
(Christopher Reeve died from one...).
We talked to a furniture store owner
who thought he could get one in a
month, and miraculously, one appeared
in his store yesterday with an
ELECTRIC recliner (It has large
buttons that Bahzad can push with his
elbow!). It's bright red leather, and
the man in th e
store even gave us a $50 discount on
it because we told him Bahzad's story!
Here's the last thing to pr-y about,
and it's about breaking culture here
(which I've done several times so
they're getting used to it!) We need
to find a swimming pool that will
allow women and men in together (women
aren't allowed to swim here!) so we
can start therapy in the pool! We've
been asking around, but no luck yet.
Lift that one up!!! Love you, miss
you, Xuaha fiz!! DeeDee
Pictures (top to bottom):
DeeDee & roommate with
Bahzad and family; Bahzad; Bahzad and
his mom;
Bahzad with his older sister and
younger brother;
the two younger brothers were playing
with bubbles that the American ladies
brought. |
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6-15-09
Hi Laretta - just an update on my
little pal Ranj. I haven't had him in
class for about a month, but I'm
teaching
 his
father again, so Ranj comes to class
every day. The first day he came
back, he walked up to me, shook my
hand and said, "Hello, Miss DeeDee."
His dad was tickled, because I'm the
only one that Ranj speaks to!! It's
DEFINITELY not anything that I did,
but I still think a miracle!!! I love
this kid, though, and am so glad that
we were connected in Kurdistan!!!
My time here is growing short, so
my "dance card" is full every day,
with teaching and then being invited
to friends’ houses in the evenings.
I'm running low on sleep, but can
catch up on the plane on the way home,
I guess. It'll take me about 3 days to
get home, with connections few and far
between. I have to spend a day in
Turkey, and another in Germany. At
least in Germany I won't have my
luggage, but I really want to find
somewhere in Turkey to leave it so I
can go exploring for a day! Why sit
in an airport when there are things to
see??!! I'll be back in Yuma around
the 9th or 10th and will be in church
on the 12th for sure. I booked a
plane ticket to my parents' house for
the 14th ($218 round trip compared to
$2000 driving and hotels) so will be
flying to their house for a couple of
weeks.
I'm SAD that I'll have to miss the
big Missions weekend, but my parents’
50th will definitely only happen
once! I'm getting my phone turned on
again by the 28th (before I leave) so
will be able to call from places on
the way home if I want to !!! Love,
DeeDee
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6-21-09
Hi, all! I went to Halabja yesterday,
and it seriously affected me! I know
that some of you know what happened in
Halabja, but if you don't here's the
abridged version. In 1988, in a small
village called Halabja on the Iranian
border, Saddam Hussein and his cousin,
Chemical Ali, launched an attack using
chemical weapons. They first dropped
some bombs around the village to get
people to run into their homes, and
then around 11:30 am on March 16th,
they dropped bombs that let loose gas
that killed, maimed, and burned every
living thing, human, animal, and
plant. Many people died almost
instantaneously, many tried to leave
the village and died on the way out,
many escaped to the mountains where
they drank the poisoned water and
died, and many made it across the
border to Iran where they died in
hospitals there. FEW survived! Saddam
did this as a way to show his "power"
to the world, and also to kill the
Kurds through genocide, as he was
trying to put an end to the Kurdish
race, much like Hitler, but on a
smaller scale. The news media
immediately reported a bombing in
Halabja, but reporters were not
allowed in for a few days. When they
got there, they found mass
devastation! One reporter from Turkey
took many photos that were sent out
over the wire and are famous to this
day. I'll include some of them in this
e-mail, but they're not pretty to look
at! Maybe you don't want to show
people, but unless people know,
history usually repeats itself!!
Anyway - the village rebuilt itself in
a different spot, there are mass
graves where some are buried, there is
a memorial cemetery with 5000 markers,
each one representing a family that
died, with each marker listing the
parents of that family, and there is a
museum where you can tour around and
learn about that fateful day. While I
was there, I met a man who survived
the attack. He was the only one to
survive, besides the driver of the
truck that he was in. He's in the
photo where dead people are hanging
out the back of the truck but a young
man is hanging over the right side.
He's the man (actually 15 year old
boy) hanging over the side! He showed
me a video of news clips from that
time, as he was one of the ones who
made it to Iran and lived! He couldn't
look at the video as it showed him as
a young man being interviewed by
reporters. This is 21 years later! We
left the museum and drove around the
old part of town. Some of my friends
here in Suleimaniyah are from Halabja,
and when I told them yesterday that I
was going there, I had many requests
to "go behind the big mosque and look
at the empty lot - my house used to be
there", or "look for my parents'
marker in the cemetery. They died
while I was visiting my grandparents
for Newroz", or similar stories.
Driving around made me cry, as did
looking at the markers in the memorial
cemetery. Things are obviously better
here now, but many Kurds are worried
as to what will happen when the US
military pulls out! We talk about that
daily, as there is a deadline of June
30 for them to be out of urban areas.
I think it's June of 2011 to be out of
rural areas, but don't know for sure.
What I know for sure is that ALL here
are affected by what happened 21 years
ago, and that is one way to reach all
of the people here - to show them His
love through us, and to talk about
Eternal Life, not just end of life. I
got an "enjile piroz" (our holy NT)
written in Kurdish with Arabic script,
and have been reading and studying it
to be able to reach others in their
heart language. My language teacher is
even helping me - another route to
delivering the Message! I hope this
message wasn't too gruesome for you,
but the world needs to know! Love,
DeeDee |
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