By Eva Rosenfeld
The Communicator (magazine)
Community HS
1st Place
Division 4, News Writing
Diversity Coverage
Since June 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has militaristically maintained control of the city of Mosul in Iraq. On March 10, sources in Mosul revealed that ISIS militants had destroyed the Markourkas Church, located in the northeastern side of Mosul, and the Mosque of the prophet Younis (Jo-nah). They had also executed three senior officers of the Iraqi Air Force.
For Mr. Tahan*, a substitute teacher, this news elicits more than secondhand dismay; it’s personal.
Tahan was living in Baghdad, working as a contractor for the U.S. military. He moved around several bases in and around Baghdad fixing appliances.
One afternoon Tahan’s daughter came home to find a letter on the ground inside the garage. It threatened Tahan’s life – as well as his family’s – as long as he continued to work for the U.S. He realized shortly after that it was no empty threat. One day when he was walking down a street in Baghdad, a car pulled up next to him. A man emerged and put a musket to his head. Tahan thought he was as good as dead, but when the man got closer, Tah-an punched him in the face, hardly realizing what he was doing, and exited the situation safely.
He was no longer safe in Baghdad. This fear, combined with discontent with the Iraqi government, drove Tahan and his wife and children to leave. They moved in 2007, when the family was granted a special immigrant visa abroad.
Today, Tahan’s extended family remains in Iraq: some in Baghdad, some in Mosul, where ISIS has been in control for about ten months. He remains in contact with them.
“I feel safe here but still I’m worrying about my family,” Tahan said. “They are suffering there. Of lack of gas, for heat, for cooking. They don’t have income because there’s
no work. They don’t have payment because there’s no government… There’s no schools. All of their life
is ruined there… Even when I’m talking to them I’m worried that if my words get in ISIS’s hand they may get hurt because of [our] talking.”
Tahan does not have a clear image of how his family and the other citizens of Mosul are being treated, but he believes the people of Iraq have been struggling for a long time, even before ISIS’s occupation.
“The government that controls Iraq, they discriminate [between] the people there, they didn’t give them a chance to work, they didn’t give them a chance to
influence government, and that’s why this region is in-
vaded by ISIS,” Tahan said. “Because the government’s corrupted and the army is weak, that’s why these bad guys took over the city. And ISIS, Al Qaeda, these are not new, these are from before, but now it’s getting more complicated and bigger.”
In his new home, Tahan has managed to find work. He hopes to convey a message to students receiving an education in his country of refuge.
“I know how the people are suffering [back home],”
he said. “That’s why I encourage students here to take advantage of such good schools and good education.”
His degree, however, is in Engineering, and in Iraq he had a job at Baghdad International Airport. He hopes to get a job as an engineer. Tahan’s son and daughters are too following professional paths by attending college.
“They are doing great,” he said. “But in Mosul, my cousins, my aunts, my father’s family and my mother’s family are there… I feel it will end soon but I don’t know how it will be ending.”
*name has been changed to protect anonymity