Pinkie’s Realm

A podcast I’ve recently viewed is “Challenges at a Girls’ School in Baghdad” from the Alive in Baghdad online series, published 5/21/2007. The episode investigates the middle school of Al-Safina located in Adhamiya, Iraq, which serves young girls from all over Baghdad. It focuses on the hardships and continuing violence in the area, and how it affects the students. Despite the challenges of learning in a violent and dangerous atmosphere, the students are still so dedicated to their education. The school director, a teacher, and multiple students all speak about their experiences in the video. One particular student who was memorable to me was an eigth grade girl who describes the difficulties she encounters when the Americans search the area while she’s on her way to school. She is of Iraqi origin, just as the other students are, except that she seemed to be one of the few not wearing the piece of fabric that covers her hair. She was however dressed in black and white school uniform, just as all her other classmates are. The director of the school discusses how her school is not the only one suffering from violence and danger, and she also mentions how staff members are even unable to make it to the school at times. She goes on to complain how the poor students often fall behind when they are unable to make it to school for whatever reason, including road and bridge blocks, or when the district is under search. Another student who was interviewed describes the checkpoints and road blocks, and how they cause many accidents (which she has experienced firsthand). Due to these challenges, including sectarianism and displacement, the number of students  enrolled in the school has been decreasing. It is so sad when students have the motivation and desire to excel and learn, and are prevented from doing so. I think American students, especially those in richer and nicer areas, should watch these videos and try to learn from these girls. So many American children hate school, don’t do their work, drop of out school due to pure laziness or lack of motivation, and complain constantly about what they should be grateful for. Education is truly a privelidge, not to mention our educational system is one that is far more complex and technologicall advanced than of that which I observed in the video. I’ve seen American classrooms filled with laptops, computers, internet access, television, and even “smart boards” rather than chalk boards. These students are trying their hardest and doing the best with what they can just to learn and attempt to get the best education they can, and I think that many of us should try to learn from their example.

Dear Riverbend,

Riverbend. Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq. New York: The Feminist Press, 2005.

This book is an autobiography, except it is uniquely formed from live blog entries. Written by a young woman who herself grew up in Iraq, it truly sheds light into not only the young, weak, and unstable government as well as the political aspects of Iraq, but also the dangers and difficulties of everyday living. This book will helps those on the outside finally understand the emotional aspect of growing up in such an environment. Riverbend will grab the reader with her honesty and beautiful writing style, as she describes her Iraqi culture as it is interrupted and destroyed by explosions, electrical outages, looting, and more horror. This may be the book that will finally make enough people realize the truth to actually make a difference.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have already read a bit of the book Baghdad Burning by the blogger only known to her audiences as ‘Riverbend’. After scanning the book and reading the foreword and introduction, I think I’ve jogged most of my memory and brought up some of the same emotions I felt back when I read the book the first time. Blogging, as I’ve already discussed throughout my own blog, has in the past few years emerged as a new means of communication amongst people across America who believe the media doesn’t offer the raw truth behind what is really going on in the country (and more importantly, the world). Because of the way the media portrays Iraq, we have subconsciously dehumanized the Iraqi people. We tend to think of them as a barbaric culture as a whole—who can’t speak English, who are violent and animalistic, and can’t even use computers or the internet. In reading Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq by the Iraqi female known only as Riverbend, I have come to realize that the only way to truly understand just how similar we Americans are to the suffering people of Iraq, is by hearing about their life, first hand, from an Iraqi citizen. Riverbend has helped shed light on the going-ons of Iraq, the corruption, the horrible living conditions, the dangers of daily life, and the unstable setup of the government with its 9 equally unstable presidents. By reading her blog entries we can only begin to understand what the daily life is like for an Iraqi woman, and we can finally begin to understand that they are just as human as we sheltered Americans are.