121Contact

June 13 2009 I remember Baghdad

Well, lately I was thinking of it will be two years soon, away from Baghdad. And my brain is not washed yet of the memories of everything in Baghdad. The streets, the trees, the sun in Baghdad is different from here. The breeze, the scenes, the children.

I thought that time will wash memories and make you forget some sightseeing in your eyes, some scenes, but I was wrong. I walk here and look at some places and sometimes I intend to look at different, diverse scenes to have a new sight from my old sight, but it's there. It's connected to everything.

I can't forget anything about Baghdad-even the smell ...especially the famous, juicy Iraqi burtoqal...a taste I miss and cannot seem to get here.
I can feel and touch and see how minutes live in time. My day dreams are Baghdad. My sleeping dreams are Baghdad. It's Baghdad. Though the horrible, sad scenes stick in your mind more than the beautiful. The beautiful scenes nourish your soul, but they pass quickly. The bad scenes leave scars in your heart, spirit, and imagination. And whenever you pass with the memories you can feel the bruises of these scars, unlike the beautiful moments.

The beautiful moments are flat and soft and don't wound  your spirit. For this reason when you remember the beautiful moments you relax; you enjoy it; you have have sighs for these moments.

Once I traveled with my brother to one of the provinces. I was looking for a high salary job and it was about 3 or 4 hours by car. The driver put a cassette in the player. The music was so loud. Me and my brother were sitting next to the speaker and we wanted to tell him, but he was so excited by the loud music, and so happy, we felt embarrassed to say, "Hey, we are passengers. You should take care of us." So we said nothing.

The journey was long. We talked of our childhood. We talked of poetry. My brother loves poetry, especially the mystic poetry and he memorized a lot of poems that glorify Allah and the creation. And we talked about that. I remember the moments when he explained the poems. He was infatuated with the words. He put them in a very beatiful way. He added his own poetic touch to the poems he recited.

On the return trip we talked of family things, criticized friends, and saw many funny scenes. There was a very fat person getting into a car. He wore a white dishdasha. The sun touched his face and it was dark with color. We pitied him because it was very hot at that time. He was sweating, and his movements were slow. He could hardly get into this car because he was sooo fat! My brother said, "I feel sorry for such a man who has such problems for his weight."

After one hour we saw this man in the road asking for a ride because his car broke down. There was only one seat in our car, but this man was of three or four people! My brother was so happy to help him. He came and sat next to my  brother and my brother squeezed me over to one-half chair. I asked my brother, "Do you still pity him?", and in truth I pitied myself, stuck there right next to the speaker It was so very loud.

My brother asked the driver to turn the music down, and he did. But after a while the he turned it up again. I had to put my folder up against the speaker. The whole trip we made fun of ourselves. My brother was very tired and he fell asleep and started to snore. It was very loud. the music from one side, and my brother from the other! I wished it would stop.

But now I wish I can hear his snoring again.
n

Jan 9 2009 N in Baghdad by Joan I. Siegel

N. In Baghdad
  by Joan I. Siegel

If I walk and look down at my feet
I will only see my feet walking
on the sidewalk. Then I will know
I am still alive. And the body
of the dead woman in the gutter
is someone else. The stench
I swallow is hers. Not mine.
The wailing is her family's.
Not mine. The car pulling up
beside me is only a car stalled
in traffic. I do not explode:
my blood raining
on the street with scraps of skin
and brains, my lifetime
of molecules housing all
I have ever known-
my mother and father
sisters and brothers
my house, my hands
the taste of pomegranates
my nephew's voice
my last thoughts screaming
in widening rings.

July 6 2008 First Annniversary Part One: away from Iraq for the first time

First Anniversary

By N

 

Away from Iraq for the first time.

Away from my room,

its corners that I adore

where I left my small dreams on my pillow.

Where I left my sleep and my peace on my bed…maybe forever.

 

I don’t know why I feel that I am the first person

who decided to take this step.

The first person away from country

in this world.

The first person who left her fingers planted for ever in the soil of Iraq.

 

Oh, Iraq, your burden is heavy.

I can’t hold it any more.

But I love you because in you happiness can be found,

even though it’s rare,

and true friendship.

 

Oh, Iraq, for you this everlasting bleeding of sadness.

The country of real women, real men,

childhood, and passion.

I can’t feel the joy despite smiling.

I can’t taste my love for beauty…

Only in you.

 

What kind of madness when I decided to leave you

How and why?

Is it true that I am away from Iraq?

Is this a dream? Even if it is,

when will I wake up?

Is it real that I am in another land?

Not Iraq?

 

Oh, Iraq, you are the pain that never ceases.

Is it true I am wearing another gown?  

Not Iraq?

And my heart will beat away from Baghdad?

 

Oh, God,

When will I wake up.

I want Baghdad.

I want Iraq again.

Apr 23 2008 Don't play in Baghdad streets

N called home to Baghdad today. It was a hard call. There was good news and bad, and many tears.

The family is 'fine'. That's the euphemism for 'not so bad considering the hell we live in'. That was the end of the good news.

Tens of families have moved into the neighborhood from Shi'a areas. The fighting is so intense in some Shi'a neighborhoods that families are fleeing with only the clothes on their backs and maybe a bag or two of precious items. It is now swarming with different militias and all who live there live in fear. Many homeless families have arrived in the past few days. This neighborhood is still mixed and many flee there knowing that they will receive help from the people. Many more than usual came these last few days.

Because N has no chance of returning in the near future her brother asked, "Do you mind if I give your clothes to these families?"

"No."

"Good, because I already did this. One of the families has four young girls. I gave them your jackets, skirts, house clothes, and other things. You had many sheets so I gave them sheets, too."

"It's OK. What else? Tell me. You sound upset. What is wrong?"

"Nothing. Nothing. We are OK," he answered, but N could hear his wife in the background telling him not to tell N other news because it would be upsetting.

"Brother, you must tell me."

"OK, but we are OK," and then he told her of the day's events.

N's niece is in the 3rd grade and today they had exams. the little ones take the tests in the morning and the older ones go later. During the morning exam for 6-8 year old students a street bomb exploded right outside her school. Brother heard the explosion and asked people in the street about where it was. Someone told him the school was bombed. You cannot imagine his fear. He ran and, with other parents and families, arrived at the school minutes after the bomb. Smoke and dust and cries and shouts filled the air. People were shouting and searching for their children. The scene was chaos. Students were fleeing in panic; some trampling each other. Many were stepped on. There were many cuts from flying glass but no one died. Students had broken arms and hands from the trampling.

He saw his 8 year old daughter. She was covered in dust and bleeding from her mouth. Her tooth was broken, that's all. That's all except for the psychological damage she and the others suffered. Can you imagine what this will do to them?    

N begged her brother not to let the children play in the street any more. She told him of the Iraqirabita article that talked of their neighborhood being one that should expect violence soon. 

"Why this bombing? Why bomb the children? What can I do? Should we live like prisoners in our house?"

The connection was cut and the call ended. The tears still flow.

March 28 2008 Baghdad curfew while Baghdad burns

Baghdad is under another curfew, scheduled to last another 3 days.

I tried to call my family in Baghdad but the phones did not connect. I started to call everybody and finally got through to a friend who lives in a Sunni neighborhood. It used to be a mixed neighborhood but it can't be called that anymore. In '06 and '07 there was much fighting there and Shi'a and Christian families were divided into two distinct neighborhoods by concrete walls; one Sunni, and one Shi'a. We don't know what happened to the Christians, but some of them live with the Sunni and some fled to the North of Iraq. I asked her to please contact her family and make sure they are OK.

She said:

All the neighborhoods are enclosed by Iraqi and American tanks and soldiers. They have declared an Twari' (emergency ).

[During Twari' the Americans put orange flags on their tanks and vehicles as a sign to the helicopters that they are friendly. This is how some know serious trouble is afoot.]

The electricity is the same schedule. The water is fine. We went to the store yesterday and bought food for the curfew. Some neighborhoods have no electricity and they live in horrible condition now. These are the neighborhoods where there is fighting.

I am very hopeless. I don't want to see anybody. I am sitting alone in my room. I don't want to talk with people. I don't want to go to school any more. I hate our life. I hate our life. Everything is changed. People are no longer the same people that you love. You can see only bloodshed, shooting...and horrible news of war and killing.

I want to hear some joyful news. There isn't any. I am fed up.

I thought of going to Syria, but Syria now has new rules so that no one can enter unless there is a specific reason, like to continue education. Even to bring my sister [she is disabled] for treatments it is so complicated. I have to go to the Ministry of Health and it takes a long time.

The shooting and the bombs are not in my neighborhood but I can hear it in the Shi'a neighborhoods. Some Shi'a neighborhoods fell so that the Iraqi and American troops cannot control it any more. They are in the hands of militia, I think the Mahdi army. They control police stations and checkpoints. The American troops and the Iraqi troops do not have control over them any more. I can see the helicopters but it is not close to my neighborhood.

You know what? I need a big change in my life. I am fed up with the continuous frustration.

The problem is that there are many innocent people there. All the time the innocent people are driven in the current of violence with no reason. The powerful people are hidden and safe, but the innocents are hurt.

Now I wait to hear from my family.
Noor

2008 EVENT SCHEDULE: the Human Face of 'collateral damage'

We're on the road again: Putting a Human Face on ‘collateral damage’
                                                 A Baghdad Schoolteacher's View                  

• January 21   Martin Luther King Day Event at Holy Name of Jesus Church, Manhattan
• February 28 John Dewey High School: Nesreen gets to speak at the school lwhose students atrated writing to her Baghdad students over 4 years ago.
• March 9       Palmyra, PA Church of the Brethren: Putting a Human Face on Life in Iraq
• March 10     Elizabethtown College, PA "Seminars in Global Citizenship" 
  • 7 PM An on-campus public talk and discussion
• March 19     Winter Soldier with Iraq Veterans Against the War (testimony)
• April (date to be determined) Reed College, Portland Oregon  

Please click the 'Continue reading'' link, below, to see the details.
    To plan an event with Nesreen send an inquiry [email protected]

Nesreen, a Baghdad school teacher, has come to America. Her mission: to illuminate the American public about the harsh reality of life in Baghdad today—the result of our occupation of her nation.

Almost four years ago Nesreen and Bruce Wallace connected Baghdad and Brooklyn students and teachers via email. One to One Contact opens the hearts of people on the “other side” of the occupation and creates a peace bridge between the two sides. The caring American and brave Iraqi students and teachers exchange emails about their lives, the war and occupation, and growing up in Brooklyn and Baghdad.

To protect her family and self we have changed her name and other details of her life in Baghdad.

Bruce Wallace is a member of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. His nephew Mitchell Wallace was killed at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. He works full-time teaching about the human face of collateral damage.

Write to [email protected] for information about how you can sponsor an event you will not forget. You will hear about life in Baghdad today, and learn of a new question few are brave enough to ask about America’s responsibility to the Iraqi people. We’ve completed over 3 dozen events and can put you in touch with previous sponsors.

In loving kindness,

Bruce and Nesreen

080101 Putting a Human Face on ‘collateral damage’

Putting a Human Face on ‘collateral damage’

Nesreen is here!

After 16 months of wrangling with the U.S. State Department Nesreen, a Baghdad school teacher, has come to America. Her mission: to illuminate the American public about the harsh reality of life in Baghdad today—the result of our occupation of her nation.

Almost four years ago Nesreen and Bruce Wallace created a project connecting Baghdad and Brooklyn students and teachers via email. One to One Contact opens the hearts of people on the “other side” of the occupation and creates a peace bridge between the two sides. The caring American and brave Iraqi students and teachers exchange emails about their lives, the war and occupation, and growing up in Brooklyn and Baghdad.

Nesreen teaches literature at a school in Baghdad. For years Bruce and Nesreen, as well as their students, corresponded by email. To protect her family and self we have changed her name and other details of her life in Baghdad.

Bruce Wallace is a member of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. His nephew Mitchell Wallace was killed at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Mitch is the impetus behind 121Contact's mission to publicly address the conditions of innocent civilians caught in killing zones. 

Write to [email protected] for information about how you can sponsor an event. You will hear about life in Baghdad today, and learn of a new question few are brave enough to ask about America’s responsibility to the Iraqi people. We'd be glad to put you in touch with sponsors of our previous summer and fall series of events.

In loving kindness,

Bruce and Nesreen

One to One Contact

www.121Contact.typepad.com Helping and communicating with innocent civilians: A Baghdad-Brooklyn bridge where some Baghdad-Brooklyn emails are posted. The charitable arm is focused on Baghdad families in economic crisis; mainly the widows and orphans.

www.PeacefulTomorrows.org Many good works are done through here. Always an excellent guide for turning energies of loss and anger into works for peace.

http://www.epic-usa.org/ The focus is on helping Iraqi refugees here.

www.womenforwomen.org They have their first setup in Iraq now. They've proven themselves in Afghanistan and I hope they'll stick it out in these hard days.

The Fall 2007 Responsibility Tour: Putting a Human Face on 'collateral damage'

 We're on the road again: Putting a Human Face on ‘collateral damage’

                                                 A Baghdad Schoolteacher's View                  

• Sep 25  An Intimate dinner with some of New York City's women of influence.
• Oct 13  Bay Ridge Neighbors for Peace FIRST ANNUAL PEACE FAIR
• Oct 25  The Bellvale Community, Chester NY (not open to the public)
• Nov 15-16 Urbana University, Urbana OH, classroom and large forum events.
• Nov 19 SUNY/Orange County Community College (Middletown NY), a talk.
• Nov 29 Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry, New York
• Nov 30 Manhattan NYC: with Military Families Speak Out
• Dec 11 Brooklyn Poly Prep
  
• Mar 13-16 Washington DC Iraq Veterans Against the War--testimony of war crimes and atrocities

Please click the 'Continue reading'' link to see the details.

                         To plan an event with Nesreen send an inquiry [email protected] 

   Nesreen is here! This brave Baghdad schoolteacher has come to America to speak with you about the reality of life in Baghdad today—the result of our occupation of her nation.   
   3 years ago Bruce and Nesreen teamed up to teach about the people on the “other side” of the war, creating an email peace bridge.
   In Brooklyn, the 121Contact project is led by Bruce Wallace, a member of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. His nephew, Mitch Wallace, was killed at the World Trade Center.
   In Baghdad the project is led by Nesreen, a teacher at a school for young women; a voice for millions of innocent Iraqis devastated by the occupation. We do not use her last name for security reasons   
   Join us to hear about life in Baghdad today, and learn of a new question few are brave enough to ask about America’s responsibility to the Iraqi people.
   In loving kindness,
   Bruce and Nesreen   

                                                             

Aug 17 2007 Brooklyn to Baghdad: 6 degrees of separation from Bruce to Nesreen

As Nesreen, the visiting Baghdad teacher, and I do our tour: Putting a Human Face on 'collateral damage' I am often asked, "How did you connect with a teacher in Baghdad?"

After a workshop at John Dewey High School, Brooklyn NY I promised the students I would get them email contact with students in Baghdad. Of course I had no idea how I would accomplish this and left in a minor panic. 

As a good New Yorker I turned to our most powerful tool: networking! I emailed, wrote, called, and collared every person I knew.

1. Terry Shutte, a friend from high school days, put me in touch with a friend who works for an Arab-American newspaper.

2. The reporter knew someone in Washington, D.C. who “does something with the Middle-East.”

3. That person, from Global Exchange, knew someone she thought worked with Iraqis.

4. That someone works for The Center for Nonviolent Communication and pointed me to a man who “might be able to help.”

5. The CNVC man knew of a doctor who traveled the world treating war-traumatized children, and “she was in Iraq.”

6. But when I contacted the trauma doctor she told me that she could only do her work for six to nine months at a time. The emotional load of working with these violence-damaged children became too much for her from time to time. She had left Baghdad and was back in London for some much needed rest and recuperation. 

She sensed my disappointment and said, “Don’t worry. I have the email address of a taxi driver in Baghdad and he knows everyone!”

7. I wrote to the taxi driver and he put me in touch with a woman he thought was involved with education in Baghdad.

8. I emailed the woman and she said, “My sister is a teacher here in Baghdad. I will ask her if she wants to contact you.”

9. And then Nesreen wrote these words to me:

From: nesreen
Sent: Friday, March 05, 2004 6:37 AM
To: Bruce
Subject: Re: A request for High School age contacts in Iraq and Afghanistan

Dear Bruce,
I’m ready to help. But let me tell u something first. I’m also a teacher in (XXX), a high school for girls. I’ll ask my friends, students, and colleagues to help and share ideas with u.
Best wishes,
Sincerely,
Nesreen
 

Well, OK, it's eight degrees of separation, but who's counting?

B

Aug 1 2007 Putting a Human Face on 'collateral damage' event schedule

 Hi. We're on the road.

After over a year of haggling with the State Department Nesreen is finally hear and fulfilling her wish to speak to the American people about what we have brought to her nation. Come hear her speak of daily life in Baghdad today before she returns to her homeland.

You will also be interested to hear the new question she raises about the American citizens responsibility the citizens of Iraq.

 

August 5 Bronx Action for Peace and Justice

August 7 Eyes Wide Open Exhibit, Staten Island, NY 

August 9 United Nations,  NY NY
United Nations International Institute for Peace Educations (IIPE) at the  United Nations   
www.tc.edu/PeaceEd/IIPE/25th.htm
Transforming Grief into Peace Action

August 10
The Peace Boat, New York City
http://www.peaceboat.org/
Nesreen and Bruce will speak to the Peace Boat tour beginning at 9:30 at Ground Zero. Peace Boat is a Japan-based international non-governmental and non-profit organization that works to promote peace, human rights, equal and sustainable development and respect for the environment.

August 11
IIPE conference, Colombia University, New York City
Peace Education for Security and Disarmament   
www.tc.edu/PeaceEd/IIPE/25th.htm
Peace education outside the academic sphere.
 

August 12
Philipstown for Democracy  at Garrison, New York
4-6 PM at the St. Philips Episcopal Church Parish House, 1101 Rt. 9D, Garrison, NY.
Contact: [email protected]
See the article below: Iraqi teacher urges help for her country's rebuilding

August 14
The Ghosts of Abu Ghraid film presented by
The Bay Ridge Neighbors for Peace
Information: [email protected] 646-546-6642

August 16
MoveOn Press Conference, 1:00 PM City Hall, Manhattan, NY
MoveOn will read its declaration concerning the cost of the Iraqi occupation to local communities in America. Nesreen will speak to the unspeakable cost of the occupation to the innocent civilians of Iraq.

 August 18

Live Interview by Carol Boss, NPR, Albuquerque

?2-3PM EST? ((not sure yet, so check NPR.org for your local time))
The Women's Focus show will feature Ms. Nesreen, a visiting teacher from Baghdad, Iraq.  She will be speaking as an ordinary citizen of Baghdad to ordinary citizens of the U.S. and furthering her mission of letting as many Americans as possible understand the realities of life in Baghdad today.

August 19
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Long Island, NY
An open luncheon/discussion meeting about the realities of life in Baghdad today and how that directly affects the individual citizen of the U.S.

August 22
"How ordinary people survive war (or not)"
At the Murray barn at 30 Wisner Road in Warwick, NY 
Hosted by Warwick's Women in Black and September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, the Putting a Human Face on 'collateral damage' evening will focus on the reality of what the U.S. has given to Iraqis and the responsibilities of the individual American to the individual Iraqi civilian.
for directions and more information: [email protected]

August 26
St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery, NY NY
2nd Avenue and 10th Street, Manhattan
http://www.stmarkschurch-in-the-bowery.com/
Nesreen will deliver a sermon about civilian casualties of political violence and the responsibility of the U.S. to citizens of Iraq. A Q&A session will follow the services. Services begin at 11 A.M. At 12:30 there will be an informal conversation with Nesreen.

September 11
Boston College Iraq Awareness Week
7 PM at Higgins Room 300 Chestnut Hill Campus
Putting a Face on Collateral Damage: The Life of a School Teacher in Iraq

Info: Alexandra Saieh 305-733-5595
Here is the link to a map and directions to get to Boston College:
http://www.bc.edu/about/maps/s-approach.html

Here is a map of the actual campus:
http://www.bc.edu/about/maps/s-chestnuthill.html

 
 

September 15

Tell Vito Fossella: Stop funding the war! Bring the troops home now!

March and Rally: September 15, 10:30 AM

Assemble at Saint Andrew the Apostle Church, 67th Street and Ridge Blvd, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

March to Vito Fossella's office at 85th St. and 4th Avenue.

Rally with speakers.

 

This march and rally is sponsored by Bay Ridge Neighbors for Peace. It is being endorsed by many groups, including Peace Action Staten Island, Brooklyn for Peace (formerly Brooklyn Parents for Peace), United for Peace and Justice/NY, Code Pink, and others (see flyer for a more complete list). New endorsements continue to come in, and we will be joined by a large carpool caravan from Staten Island (which, of course, is also in Fossella's district--Congressional District 13) and by people from other parts of Brooklyn.

 

---

We'll endeavor to keep this schedule up to date. You can contact us at [email protected] for more details, and don't forget to send your contributions to:

Bruce Wallace
121Contact Program
523 72nd Street
Brooklyn NY 11209

Every little bit helps.