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الأحد, 22 أكتوبر, 2006
Voices of Iraq: Baghdad-Eid (Feature)
كتب: nadioshka في يوم الأحد, 22 أكتوبر, 2006 - 01:59 PM BT
Baghdad-Eid (Feature)
Baghdadis robbed of the Eid joy as violence rages unabated
Hamed al-Hamarani
Baghdad, Oct 22, (VOI) – Abu Ahmed could not sleep for two successive night when his little daughter Nadia asked him: “Where will you take us during Eid?”
He realized he had only two choices; either to succumb to her wishes and take the family for an Eid al-Fitr outing, turning a blind eye to the grave security deterioration, or cite excuses he already knows they are no good.
Violence has been raging unabated in Iraq with daily bombings and killings claiming score of lives in Baghdad and other towns.
Iraqi Sunnis will celebrate Eid al-Fitr on Monday to mark the end of the Moslem fasting month of Ramadan while Shiites could start celebrating Eid on Tuesday or Wednesday depending on the sighting of the new moon.
With Eid outings and picnics out of the question, Abu Ahmed, like most Iraqis, is also unable to buy his children new clothes as customary for Eid.
“Baghdad used to be a joyful city rife with entertainment, tourism and places of fun,” Abu Ahmed told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq VOI).
“There were al-Azamiya cornice, al-Zawraa Park and many theaters that show comic plays during Eids, not to mention the cinemas in Baghdad which I’m sure not a single Iraqi family has entered since (the U.S.-led invasion) in April 2003,” he added bitterly.
Children playgrounds were abound in Baghdad and kids used to go by themselves to enjoy the swings, slides and merry-go-rounds before returning home safe and happy, Abu Ahmed recalled.
“Now, we fear for them if they stand in front of the house, so how about if they want to go for an outing far from home,” he exclaimed.
Hajj Abu Te’ma, 72, believes the spiral of violence in Baghdad with all the killings, kidnappings and evictions has been detrimental to breaking up family bonds and spoiling Eid traditions.
Abu Te’ma, a retired Baghdadi who lives in the multi-ethnic al-Amel neighborhood in southern Baghdad, laments the old days when visiting relatives and neighbors on the first day of Eid was of paramount importance.
“With one half of our families living in camps because of forced evictions and the other half living abroad to escape killing, where can we go in Eid?” he exclaimed angrily.
With fears gripping Iraqi families, new clothes unaffordable and keeping kids away from the risk-fraught streets becoming imperative, watching the television is now the only attraction parents can promise their children during Eid.
“I convinced my kids to forget what they consider the joy of Eid and stay home to watch Eid through the TV screen,” Umm Seif, a teacher in al-We’am primary school, told VOI.
“But when I convinced them with this idea, they begged me to appeal to the ministry of electricity to have mercy on the poor in Eid days and go easy on power rationing so that they can eventually watch the TV,” she said.
For the well-to-do Baghdadis, the northern Iraqi town of Sulaymaniya offers a great escapade.
Samir Attallah, a company manager, is used to take his family to the relatively-calm Sulaymaniya “to enjoy Eid away from car bombings, thieves and murderers.”
“The only thing that worries me is traveling on Baghdad-Sulaymaniya road,” he said.
However, for Umm Mounir, a housewife in the heavily-populated Sadr City neighborhood, neither the raging violence in the streets nor the children demands for Eid were enough to provoke her rage.
“What really hurt me most and made me steam with anger is the Iraqi parliamentary decision to give each citizen 10,000 Iraqi dinars ($6.7) on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr,” she said.
“What would this amount do for any one if a pair of children shoes costs 15,000 dinars?” she exclaimed sourly.