BAGHDAD – They have many in common. They were all forced to flee their home country fearing for their lives or the lives of their families.
They all love Iraq and feel honor for being Iraqis.
But they disagree in the direction their country is taking seven years after the US-led occupation.
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And they also disagree on whether Iraq could, now or in the future, be their home again.
IslamOnline has interviewed several Iraqi expatriates about their personal experiences with the war and views on the future of Iraq.
I lived all my life in Iraq where I built relationships with so many special people.
We expected that democracy was going to change the life of millions of Iraqis, but instead the proposed democracy just took away the remaining freedom and will turn our country into a desert of suffering.
I had just met someone who was interested in marrying me but after threats received by my father, a known doctor in Baghdad, I didn’t have a choice and was forced to leave behind my friends, neighbours and possible love.
When we came to Syria I felt myself like a fish out of the water. My father is working here but he isn’t happy with the way he is seen by other doctors. Despite his large knowledge on oncology, here he is seen as a simple and unknown professional.
The culture is similar in all Arab countries but Iraq has my passion and I cannot wait for the day to return.
Return to Iraq is a dream that I hope to realise one day, alone or with my family.
Adel Muhammad Ghrair, 37, Lebanon
I have been residing in Beirut for the last four years with my wife and children. Lebanon is a very beautiful country, warm people but it isn’t my land.
Life here is expensive and I’m not well paid, especially that Iraqis here are seen as the low class employee.
I had to leave Iraq to look for better opportunities and protect my family from the violence that erupted four years ago. But my heart is heavy with the memory of my family and friends.
I watch the news every day hoping that one day I will be surprised with the news that Iraq is improving, violence is becoming part of the past and jobs are available to those who spent years of their lives studying to help build their country.
But each day I get more disappointed and less hopeful that one day I will return to a democratic and safe Iraq.
But I pray everyday for a better Iraq, where my children can grow happy and safe as I did.
I have been in Brazil since 2006, when a cousin living in the country invited me and the family to stay with them and help to build a new life in a far and modern country.
I never planned to leave Iraq but after my daughter was killed in an explosion, I couldn’t wait anymore to protect my other children and when the offer came, I was too desperate to refuse.
Brazil is a beautiful and friendly country but I’m too scared to raise my sons here. My sons are adolescents and Brazil is a very modern country that makes me worried.
Iraq isn’t modern but is somehow a conservative country. I know it isn’t safe for us at this moment but I hope that God gives me the blessing to return to my country when things get better, although I believe it will take long years.
I wish I can help rebuild Iraq, but without democracy and security, I cannot take the risk to return and lose another loved person in my life.
I was a proud Iraqi before the invasion but now I’m ashamed but an ashamed who dreams of becoming proud again.
I’m a graduate of the Pharmacy College in Baghdad but I’m working as waiter at parties in London together with my wife.
We live in a very small house in a very expensive country and maybe we will never have again the good life we had in Iraq, but we prefer this way if we want to have hope in this world.
I know that it is very far from what I took years to learn but at least I know that here I’m safe, my children can go to school without being worried that a bomb can explode anytime.
My homeland turned into a country where civilians are treated as if they haven’t a soul.
I lost many parents during the last six years, victims of kidnapping, sectarian violence and rape.
Iraq became part of a past that I don’t wish to have back.
Iraq gave me more pain than I ever expect to feel in my life and I plan to erase this past and start a new life abroad for the sake of my family.
I came here to participate in a conference and decided not to return.
I tried to get a job in the Jordanian capital, Amman, where I took my family but didn’t have enough luck so when this opportunity came, I preferred to stay and raise some money to pay my family bills.
I’m here illegally and any time I can be caught but I pray everyday for God’s protection.
I don’t like the American ideology but at least I can get some money working as pizza delivery man and cleaning some houses over the weekend.
Here foreigners from different social levels do it so why wouldn’t I do it if it is helping feed my family in Amman?
I don’t want to live all my life faraway from my culture and will return to my homeland as soon as I feel that things are really improving.
My wife is suffering from depression and I hope this dream becomes a reality soon.
I love Iraq but the way our leaders are heading the politics in Iraq, democracy and safety will need many more years to be achieved.
Source: IslamOnline
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