Participants in the Education on Dialogue and Understanding Others Camp spent a full traditional day experiencing the life of the marsh dwellers in the Al-Jubaysh Marshes in Nasiriyah.
Mr. Abu Ali Al-Ahwari welcomed the Knights of Dialogue into his guesthouse, built in the Sumerian architectural style, which represents a distinctive architectural model invented by the Sumerians thousands of years ago and still standing today.
The Reed Guesthouse is a traditional house prepared for hospitality, constructed from reeds harvested by the marsh inhabitants, using measurements and methods that preserve the original characteristics to withstand weather and environmental conditions.
The marsh dwellers are the indigenous population of southern Iraq, and the style of their homes aligns with their traditional way of life, with houses built from reeds collected from the marshes where they live.
Camp participants, organized by the Masarat Foundation for Cultural and Media Development in cooperation with KAICIID Arabic and House of Coexistence, learned about the symbolic and socially prestigious role of the guesthouse in the community. The Sumerian guesthouse is considered a symbol of the local tribes, often serving as the residence of the tribal elder who manages the tribe’s affairs and hosts all guests during social events.
The guesthouse is also recognized as an environmentally friendly architectural unit, built from reeds either directly on land, on a fixed artificial island made of layers of mud and reeds locally called Jibasha, or sometimes on a floating island made of reeds and mud.
The camp participants were introduced to the signature dishes of the marsh dwellers, still prepared according to recipes dating back seven thousand years, including Shilkin (bread made from rice flour mixed with animal butter extracted from buffalo milk with sugar), and Siyah and Tabag, served with Zori fish, the smallest type of fish caught with nets from the marsh waters, in addition to Masgouf fish.
It is worth noting that the “Through Dialogue We Remain and Rise” Camp started in Baghdad with the participation of youth from Sinjar. Young people from Baghdad joined in its first phase, then it reached Basra, where young men and women from Basra joined the team. The camp is currently in Dhi Qar and will soon continue its tour to other Iraqi cities as part of a program aimed at promoting dialogue as a means to build peace among followers of different religions and rejecting hate speech.
