CPTnet
13 February 2016
by Kathy Moorhead Thiessen
A poem: “The boats, the sea, the lives”
On the morning of February 4 the team in Iraqi
Kurdistan joined together for our gathering/worship time. The electricity had
turned on after the night and so people were taking a quick look at their Face
Book and emails. My team mate Mohammed Salah showed me a photo of a teenage boy
and a woman. I looked at him with a question on my face. He said, “He was
my student”. I said, “He drowned?” Mohammed’s face told me that
I was correct. Yad had been in his class two years ago. The impact of the
deaths drew near to us.
Lukasz
Firla
immediately changed the topic for his gathering. We sat in silence and
drew and wrote out our feelings. Last week 28 Iraqi Kurds died in the
Aegean Sea. Yesterday Kurds from this region were among the 103 persons
on the boat, including young Yad from Sulaimani. I wrote
this poem as we sat together
“The boats, the sea, the lives”
Kurdistan, oh Kurdistan
How I hate to leave you
But how I long to leave you.
Political crisis, financial crisis
No electricity, no salaries, no school
There is no life, there is no hope
There is no future for my son.
We must leave
I heard about thousands drowning in the sea
Surely they were not prepared
Surely they paid the wrong smuggler
Surely they bought the fake life preservers
We will do better
We will stay in the boat and live
Today the son is a photo on Facebook
Yad- his fourteenth year was his last
There is no life, there is no hope
His body will return to Kurdistan
