Erbil: The host city of sports t ournaments - Kurdish Globe

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The Kurdish Globe No. 276, Saturday, October 09, 2010 6 Rosary sales continue under cardboard shade Lean-to’s serve as cover for sellers of prayer beads With the temporary closure of Suleimaniya’s Great Mosque, rosary vendors take to the opposite side of the street to hawk their wares. After the demolition of the outside walls of the Great Mosque for renovation purpe poses, rosary sellers in Sule leimaniya have built small huts on the adjacent street curb near the mosque to keep their businesses goie ing. Normally the sellers stand near the main gate of the mosque holding rosaries or scattering them on a sheet on the sidewalk. But since the start of renovation, the mosque has been sealed off with corrugated-iron barrie ers, forcing rosary sellers to do their selling elsewhere. Centered in Suleimaniye ya’s city center, the Great Mosque--the oldest mosque in the city--welcomes thouse sands of visitors daily. Renovation is scheduled for completion in June 2011, which is when the mosque is expected to reoe open. “We do not sell as much as we used to. Some of our customers were tourie ists visiting the shrines in the mosque,” said Karim Penjweni, 80, selling rosare ries under a small hut. Sharif Mahmud, 70, has been in the business for about eight years. His hut, he said, “does not protect me from hot or cold weathe er…neither does it protect me from dust on the street.” His hut was just a little more than a square meter long and a meter high, built of cardboard tightened to the street barrier on one side and the corrugated iron barriers behind him on the other side, covered with plastic sheeting. “Now people cannot wait too long to see what we have for sale. We were doing better when we were standie ing free, near the gate of the mosque,” added Mahmood. He explained that because of the location of the huts right on the street, where lots of cars and push-carts pass by, people don’t stand GLOBE PHOTO/Salam Abdulqadir An elderly rosary vendor relaxes in his workplace in downtown Suleimaniya. around and browse as long as they used to. “Sometimes cars park too close to us. We get their heat; it is so infuriating,” he noted. Penjweni complained about his space as well, saying he feels “uneasy” under his cardboard. He mentioned that business has declined since he moved his location. Mahmud mentioned that sometimes he sells no more than two rosaries a day. “The money I make from this is not enough to even buy my water.” Like many other people in the market, Mahmud buys bottled wate ter for drinking. Playing with rosary, or prayer beads, while speakie ing, sitting, or walking is common among Kurds. Even leaders are seen somete times in press conferences with prayer beads in their hands. Young people wear the beads on their necks for beauty. Mahmud said that women often visit, looking for nice rosaries. Originally, prayer beads were--and are still--used for counting prayers. Musle lims mention the name of God and praise him with a number of prayers, using beads instead of fingers to count them. A normal rosare ry has 101 beads. But there are longer and shorter ones. The number comes from an Islamic tradition that a singe gle prayer is to be repeated a hundred times. There are five main prayers, and thus a reciter finishes one prayer by completing a round. Rosaries range from US$2 to around US$100 in Suleimaniya. The price is determined by the rarene ness, quality, and beauty of the beads. And they are homemade. “We buy rosare ries made in different areas in Kurdistan like Qaradagh, and then we sell them rete tail,” Penjweni said. Under his hut, Mahmud rested his back on a pile of little sacks, saying he is fine with business the way it is. “God will not let me down.” Salam Abdulqadir Suleimaniya salam.abdulrahm man@gmail.com GLOBE PHOTO/Duraid Salman Boys collect recyclables from garbage in a Baghdad neighborhood. Toxic reactions and other consumer health issues are results of household products made from Baghdad’s recycled garbage. Children and youths note ticeably move in between garbage piles in Baghdad city, picking up recyclable metals and plastics to sell to factories. With the help of his donkey and carriage loaded with bags filled with metal cans, Wisam Hassan, 21, sifts through several garbage places eve ery day. He holds a stick with which he turns over trash, seeking cans and anything made of copper, aluminum, or plastic. “I owe my faithful donke key. Without it I would be exhausted. And it never complains,” said Hassan, waving his hand to swat away mosquitoes. “This is the source of my living and I cannot find a better job” because of lack of job opportunities in the city and he knows no professe sion, said Hassan. But he can earn 15,000 to 40,000 Iraqi dinars depe pending on the quantity of the collected metals. Many people have taken to doing this job. On the same garbage Hassan was searching, a boy of about 10 looked happy as Living on garbage Factories in Baghdad produce unhealthy materials recycled from trash he carted off a car radiate tor (part of which is coppe per) he found. “This looks heavy. It sells well and is copper,” shouted the boy. Thanks to the garbage seekers, recycling has also been revived. Factories locally known as Kurat receive recyclable trash to dissolve and turn into plastic bags, pots, among other things. But the proce cess of collecting, dissolvie ing, and remaking continue uously circles away from sanitary observations. The products of the small factory, which depend on trash as raw material, are dangerous to consumer health, commented Dr. As’ad Sameer, from Baghde dad. The plastic products stink and the metal pots change color because of oxidation operations. Ahmed Muhan, a chemiste try expert, warns that such products either must pass through necessary tests for quality control or they will cause toxicities. “Recyce cling metal never should be done in a random ope eration. Many of such products have the ability to interact with foods that are acidic…then they will become like time bombs in consumers’ stomachs,” Muhan explained. Plastic bags made out of recycled plastic are easy examples to test, he added. For exae ample, by putting hot bread in such a bag, it can cause melting of the nylon and toxic materials are then emitted. But owners of the recyce cling factories defy the warning and defend their products as clean. Sales are good and complaints are few, they say. They also deny using trash as raw material. Qais Faisal owns a factory that makes plastic and aluminum products in Baghdad. They import raw material and aluminum plates for their factory and somete times mix them with rece cycled materials so as to sell them cheaper. The local products are “excelle lent and better quality than the imported ones,” said Muneer Qassim, praising his own factory. Salman Haitham has his doubts, however. “Where does all the material picked up from the trash go to?” he asked, questionie ing the supposed healthy conditions of local produe ucts. Based on a doctor’s advice, Haitham recently decided to change all the pots in his house after one of his children tested positive for toxins. He expe plained that the pots in his house had turned black. Duraid Salman Baghdad duraedabrahem @yahoo.com
The Kurdish Globe No. 276, Saturday, October 09, 2010 7 Resort Review Akre-- ancient town of Zarathustra “Green belt” to aid Erbil’s natural barriers to sand storms Detailed plan suitable for indigenous trees and animals as well as humans A diagram by the KRG Ministry of Municipality and Tourism depicts Erbil’s “Green Belt” project Houses built one next to the other like stairs make Akre-- located among mountains 120 kilometers north of Erbil city and 175 east of Duhok—the special place it is. Numerous orchards and historical sites create an incredibly attracte tive resort out of this town. Historically, Akre--2,500 years old--has been the center of Zarathustrian followers. The name Akre is derived from Agir, which was the name a Zarathustrian temple. Agir literary means “fire” in Kurdish. Several temples of that old religion still stand as well as many other ancient sites, such as Qala (a castle), Kavn, Qala Akre, Qala Shush, the Zarate thustra temple, and the Buka Jwa statue. But most importe tant among them is Akre, a castle located on top of a mountain that is 450 meters higher than the current town. The castle was constructed by Meer Zand in 580 B.C. (Meer is a Kurdish title for governor.) The castle consists of several big rooms; the uppe per part is the Meer’s house, the lower room is storage. Around a big plain stone is the meeting room. There is a jail, and above its door is the sculpture of an eagle’s head. Eleven wells used to irrigate the castle still can be seen. Many resorts are inside and outside of the town, including Sipa, Razi Meere (the Meer’s orchard), the Bjel waterfall, Gali Zanta, Gribish, Gweze, and Bakirman. A tourist canne not visit all the sites in one day. The Sipa of Akre is the most famous. The resort is also called Tavgay (the water of) Akre, and is located half a kilometer east of the town. It consists of a green area of dense trees; in its middle, a stream of water falls from 30 meters high. A pool is built around this, with ample tree shade. The resort is wide enough to cater to around 500 tourists, as services projects are provided. The road from the town is asphalted, and cafe fes, restaurants, and restrooms are built in several spots. Seve eral mineral springs in Akre attract visitors who seek rele lief for skin diseases, yellow fever, and rheumatism. Kani (spring) Zartik, Kani Maime, and Kani Shekhman are exae amples of such springs. By Nadir Rosti nadr_rwsty@yahoo.com Pending government approval, a project to fill the “green lungs” of the city should improve the health and well-being of its reside dents. A general master plan to redese sign Erbil city with a so-called green belt awaits government approval, said one official. The project will improve environme mental standards and reduce sand storms as well as add beauty to the landscape. “This is one of the biggest proje ects and a grand overarching strategy for Erbil,” KRG Ministe ter of Municipality and Tourism Samir Abdullah said, describing the importance of the master plan. He announced that they will start executing the project as soon as the ministry receives appe proval from the KRG Council of Ministers. Then companies can apply their tenders. He didn’t say when government approval will come. The project aims at prevent furte ther urban sprawl, increase green lungs within the area of the city, preserve the biodiversity of and around the city, revitalize the agre riculture culture among Kurds, create a shelter belt from sand storms by planting forests, and create recreational activities. Regarding its first goal, Mr. Abdullah said: “The project will become a border for the further horizontal growth of Erbil and we can start thinking of vertical development.” He added that the green belt will define a balance for the agricultural lands of Erbe bil and the municipalities of the city. The master plan was studied and conducted by Khatib & Alae ami, a Lebanese company with ample experience in designing mater plans. The project has a circular shape, and is 75 kilomete ters in length and 2 kilometers in width, so an area of 150 kilomete ters square of greenness will ince crease in Erbil city. All of this is 12 kilometers from downtown. The world standard for greenne ness of cities should be 30 perce cent. But all of Kurdistan’s cities and towns lag behind. “Greenne ness in Erbil is 8-9 percent, but with the implementation of this project it will increase to 48 percent,” said Abdullah. Such a change will have great impact in the change of temperature and provide suitable places for famie ily picnics, he added. The project is divided into diffe ferent units. According to the master plan, there will be sports fields, especially for golf, a mode ern zoo, horseback riding, picnic areas, pedestrian and bicycle lanes, and farming. The master plan has a highly dete tailed morphology for trees and animals that are suitable for the region’s environment. Abdullah noted: “The master plan is in its final phase and soon will be open for companies to compete for it through investment. The contract is that the master plan should be completely implemented, and for sure its implementation is goie ing to be by levels.” He refused to say what the exact cost of the project will be, leaving that up to investors. “In all of Kurdistan Region there is now work being done to increase the greenness. But the reason we chose Erbil to impleme ment the first green belt is bece cause its topography is suitable to build such a green belt for the city; because Erbil’s topography is a plateau while that of Suleime maniya and Duhok is mountainoe ous. Hopefully we are going to build in the other cities as well, especially Kirkuk, whose topogre raphy is somehow similar to that of Erbil.” Global warming has forced peope ple to be careful with how they use water. Meanwhile, manmade projects like the green belt reqe quire lots of water. But Abdullah refuted concerns that the project will dry the Greater Zab passing halfway around Erbil city. “The project’s water sources are rainwe water and underground water of non-deep layers so that it won’t affect the clean underground wate ter--that water is never stored; rather, it falls back into the rive ers and is recycled. Nevertheless, for recycled water we will have to wait until the completion of Erbil’s sewage project.” Current farming production in Kurdistan Region is 90 percent composed of wheat. But after the implementation of the green belt, wheat production in Erbil will decrease to 60 percent, and the rest 25 percent vegetables and 15 percent orchards, respectively. In addition, plant nursery and fish farms are also designed to be ince cluded. Projects of this kind are also built in Milan, Italy; Rennes, France; Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain; and a few other cities. All of them seek to preserve the biodiversity of the area, create recreational are eas, and increase agriculture. Ari Mamshae Erbil mamshae.kurdishgm globe@gmail.com
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Erbil: The host city of sports t ournaments - Kurdish Globe

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