A LEADER of Scotland’s Iraqi community has told of her emotional return to Baghdad – and the role Scots are playing in easing the suffering of those injured and displaced by war.
Faten Hameed left the Iraqi capital for the UK 30 years ago as Saddam Hussein took power, choosing to stay in Scotland after marrying her husband due to safety fears over the reaction to their relationship, which crossed Sunni-Shia sectarian lines.
Now a leading figure amongst Scotland’s ex-pat Iraqis, the mother-of-three has revealed how the city she left has been destroyed after years of turmoil.
The revelation comes 15 years after the Blair-era invasion of Iraq began and comes as Faten continues the Scottish Iraqi Association’s efforts to tackle homelessness and deprivation in both countries.
She told The National: “After three days, I wanted to come home.
“There’s not even one street or road that you can drive in. I have stopped complaining about pothole here, because the ones there are so big they put flagpoles in them.
“There are live wires running into the streets, with people walking past when it’s raining.
“Young children selling tissues go between the cars in the street and men and women carry piles of material to sell as cloths. They’re not worried about their safety, they need the money. And this is in one of the richest countries in the world. I don’t know how they are surviving, it’s really a miracle.
“But still, people are so generous.”
Faten visited her sister in Baghdad during a trip to address pharmacy and medical students and deliver aid. The Scottish Iraqi Association regularly sends over tonnes of clothing collected from Scots donors, as well as cooking equipment, toiletries and more.
Faten recently secured almost 400 wheelchairs for amputees injured by improvised explosive devices and those with other debilitating conditions.
The mobility devices are badly needed in a country stretched to the limit by the bloody conflict with Daesh which followed “Operation Iraqi Freedom”, the UK-US campaign mounted by George W Bush and Tony Blair.
According to the UNHCR refugee agency, as many as 2.3 million people have been displaced from their homes by fear and fighting, with many living in camps.
This includes members of the persecuted Yazidi minority, which was targeted by Daesh over differences in religious beliefs.
Faten told how, visiting one Yazidi camp near northern city Mosul, which was liberated from the terror group in 2017 after a year-long battle, a woman took her by the hand to meet her daughter. The 22-year-old had been “unable to move” for five years after losing both her legs and has now been given a wheelchair by the charity.
Small stoves were also supplied to the camp to help families feed themselves.
Faten said: “Iraq is the forgotten war. People think Iraq is flourishing.
“There are good people who want to build the country but they are not allowed to, because some people are benefiting from the destruction. The university students I met were so intelligent. Some of them wanted to go abroad. I told them not to, I said ‘who will build this country if you go?’ Their country needs them.”
Thanking supporters – including Anas Sarwar MSP, who supplies the charity’s twice weekly Glasgow soup kitchen – she said: “It’s all down to the generosity of Glasgow. Baghdad is the city I was born in, but this is my home.”
To give clothing, food, toiletries or make a financial donation to aid the charity, visit www.facebook.com/ScottishIraqiSociety/
by Kirsteen Paterson
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