Ahmed Mohammed / Baghdad
Since I was born until today, I have lived in Baghdad, where I completed my university studies. I have walked through all the streets of my city, my eyes have become familiar with them, and my feet and the tires of my car have memorized its paths, or so I thought.
Suddenly, I discovered that I had never seen it before!!!!!
From Sinjar to Baghdad, brothers and sisters from the Yazidis and Muslims came together to live a profound experience.
I expected the issue was to visit some places within the capital as we are used to, but what happened was that I saw my city through the eyes of others from our homeland for the first time. I visited Baghdad, where I have lived for decades, for the first time!!!!!!
We enjoyed seeing what our eyes were accustomed to, and the beautiful company warmed our hearts, as our eyes were opened to other ethnicities and religions that we had long heard about but had not had the opportunity to know closely. I personally realized that Baghdad is a complete world much larger than our surroundings, our ideas, and what we believe. I greatly benefited from the tours and visits to the other components of our homeland in general and our Baghdad in particular. I was amazed by what I heard from our brothers who practice Zoroastrianism as their religion, claiming that they belong to the oldest monotheistic religion on earth, and the authenticity of the Yazidi faith, the tolerance of Christianity, and the peace of Islam. I was delighted by the presence of our brothers from Sinjar with a national spirit and high enthusiasm, as if they were putting their fingers in the eye of the tragedies they have endured, and with a defiant gaze, they are overcoming their suffering and starting anew, as usual…
After technological development and the emergence of the internet and globalization, the world has become a small village, as the saying goes. However, it is a village without a soul, containing nothing but information and rigid communication. This is where “Masarat” comes into play, to infuse spirit into this small village through coexistence programs that bring opposites together without friends, making them a true family within this homeland and this world. We have become accustomed to hearing or reading a lot about others, but nothing is better than meeting and living together.
May we meet you all in good health and peace.
