Hello Violet!!

Hello my friends,
It's my great pleasure to welcome another Iraqi blogger. Her nickname will be Violet.
Violet is a good and great friend of mine, I'm sure you will enjoy her posts.
http://www.violet-iraq.blogspot.com/
I love to thank her for editing my blog Sandybelle images. She is going to join college soon and she got a VERY high results in the last exams.
Our blog family is turning bigger day after day. We are all here to share our thoughts and ideas, God gave us, so let's give each other too...
Sandybelle

Facts ...

In my private classes , I came to know many new girls, and they are all nice and co-operative. I like them and they like me, we took photos together and we keep talking for along time with each other about different things . these friends told me stories I see I should mention here.

S, Z and A, are good girls indeed, and they live in a neighborhood in Mosul, this neighborhood will be named here as X.

A told me that she had left Iraq for the years 2006 and 2007 –April/ 2008, moved to Syria (where many Iraqis headed for in the hard times, there is safety and comfort, Syria doesn’t ask for visa and it is cheap for most families there. families who moved there absolutely were threatened by terrorists, or were about to be kidnapped or murdered or ..), and she was so thankful to go there, she could miss the most horrible times that X as well as the other quarters of Mosul witnessed.

Once, Z and S were in the class, when many veiled guys entered their school forcedly( high schools in Iraq are divided into two kinds, schools for boys and schools for girls, so boys shouldn't enter girls schools and girls shouldn’t enter boys schools), and entered the classes and began to shout madly. They came with the name of religion , saying that they were there to teach the girls the true teachings of Islam, and they were seeking girls who didnt wear hijab, and every girl who didn't wear socks , in addition to the cover of hair, would be punished and beaten ( it was summer, and most girls wear sandals so, but those guys wouldn’t agree with that, the true hijab as they believe is that the girl should wear socks, cover of hair and black gloves, she must only show her face, or to wear Burqu' to hide the face too !!!). Girls began to scream and cry and teachers turned very angry, but no one could speak. The guys were armed, and they were angry for no main reason, just thinking that with anger everyone would obey and submit.

Later, the headmistress came to them and asked them to leave the school peacefully , she promised them that every girl will wear the true hijab and everything will be ok as they want, and they will be pleased.

Then, the guys left school.

Z and S said that they had cried bitterly at that time, they thought they would be killed in any moment, many armed guys around them , and any one could press the trigger!!
Z said that after that event, her parents wouldn’t let her go to school for a month, she said
'' Oh Soleil, you don’t know what happened to me at that time. you know? I could bear the horrible scenes, every day I was seeing a man bleeding heavily, killed people and injured ones asking for help and no one was moving on my way to school, no no, everytime when I want to have a look at the street I see bodies in front of our house!!But I decided to bear that all. Not after that event, and my parents' insistence was unbreakable. I kept stuck at home for 1 month and a half, and every day I felt that my fear was increasing, I always saw very bad nightmares in the night, and imagining my family to be killed. I was so terrified, but gradually, it went away. Thank God!! It went away!! After that, I decided to be stronger, no matter and came back to school, the guys were coming from time to time there, but not these days. " ok, I really admire Z for her courage. Woww, maybe I would be died in the same moment.

I kept silent while they were talking, actually, I was terrified only with words, how about if I lived those moments?!!!She said that those happenings made many people lose hopes, many people left , just like A's family. She said that she knew a family lived in their street, and all this family members died as martyrs under their house debris when a car bomb exploded near them, and other Shia families left the neighborhood too, there is no one Shi'i there now .

"all the shi'it families left my neighborhood, but the all, sunnis and shi'its were victims of the main wicked direction, we all believe so, and we all hope to see our friends , sisters and brothers taking their way back home" Z added.
" but nowadays, the situation is so much better. Although there are many checkpoints on the roads, and this causes jams and make us miss lectures sometimes, but it's ok, it is greatly better than without checkpoints. But you know what Soleil? I hope the situation is better without checkpoints. I wonder, shall we live with checkpoints for life??!!!" S added.

I answered with no word.

" were the families there satisfied with this religious calling as those guys came with? What do the families say? Why couldn’t you all stand against the bad guys? If you were all together, hand in hand, you would overcome them all" I asked
" NO!! the families were always deeply sad about this but no one could speak, , it was unbearable. Soleil, you asked to be together against them? Oh!! Who will be able to stand against them?? They all were completely well armed ,and they had a secret power to support them, and actually we didn’t want to lose our fathers and brothers. We needed policemen and national guards, and thankfully they are here now. Although the situation is not perfect, we hope it will improve soon" they answered.

" but I don't like hijab, what about you Z?" I asked.
" Soleil, I dislike it but once, I was taking my way home, I wasn’t wearing hijab that time, an old man , with heavy bear saw me, I was 13 years old, and he slapped me and said that I had to wear it" She answered.

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The saddest thing is that those guys came with the name of religion. It is all lies, it is all false. Religion doesn’t come with force. " there is no force in religion"/ the holy Koran.

Ok ,talking about hijab, my thought is that we shouldn’t force women to wear al-hijab, and we shouldn’t make them take it off if they want to wear it. Hijab actually is one of the most personal issues. I believe they didn’t have the right to do that.
Let me mention, that in school a teacher came to me and asked me to wear hijab, and she actually brought me one as a present, and began to explain the idea for me, that without hijab all my faith is untrue. I felt so embarrassed at that time, I didn’t want to refuse her request, I admire her so much and couldn’t say no. so I took it, and kept wearing it on the way home-school and home-market, because all the girls wear hijab and everyone would notice that I'm different from them, and many inquiries could be asked, I don’t want this to happen.

But I kept telling the teacher saying

" miss, please , listen, I love to explain my idea for you, although I'm going to wear it as you like, but I just want you to know the truth that I won't wear it forever. I don’t dislike hijab, I see it is ok, but I also see that personal freedom is the most important. Miss, religion for me is not hijab, it is deeds to do , sayings to tell , symbols to make and stories to take the morals from. Miss, the important thing for me is that I love others, do my best to stand by their side and to help them, I love to learn, learning leads me to do the best for the others, my country and lead me to create more, religion is also to do God's orders because I believe that everything Gods asks me to do is true, say truths and keep others' secrets, these are the main teachings of Islam. ", she hugged me after that and answered with no word but " Soleil , you are more beautiful with hijab :D.
99,7% of girls at school wear hijab and many of them intervene in others' personal issues by saying that who doesnt wear hijab all her deeds will be unacceptable. And I was always explaining my thoughts for them, but they don’t listen.
I know a girl in my class who always intended to refuse the idea of hijab, and she said that she would always stand by my side and we both would explain our true thoughts for the others, but suddenly I found out that she agreed with the idea of wearing hijab( agreed to oppose herself)!!!! and she told me once " ok, I went to our relatives' house wearing it, and they were surprised by my new look, they liked me with it, I will wear it always. It is fine Soleil, I read a book about it and decided to change my idea" then I knew from another friend of us, that she bought an abaya to wear it in the market!! And she had already told me that no one in the world would make her wear abaya!!! It is an example I mention to tell you that the circumstances and force can make the person change all his/her ideas and didn’t obey his/her conscience , but obey the general desire , so where is the freedom??
But today, it's ok, last time I went to the market without hijab, it was fine.
In Baghdad, there nothing like this, better freedom than here.
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And to talk about the security today, it is better too, although I heard two explosions today, but it is improving, lately, Mosul airport was opened by the minister of transportations. And najef airport had been opened before this time. it is my pleasure to hear about this, it leads me to imagine our future in our blessed country.
I have also heard in the news that the US offers scholarships for the Iraqi smart students to continue their studying in the west. It sounds fine, because Iraqi education procession needs to be improved, many of the good doctors left Iraq, teachers, engineers, actors, poets, artists and …
So, within next few years everything will be ok, especially if we put our hands in each others'.

And if we remember the other part of talking " all th shi'it families left my neighborhood, but all, sunnis and shi'its were victims of the main wicked direction".

I one of my friend's cousins(who is shi'it) has married a sunni guy and they live now in al-adhmiyya in Baghdad.
Many of my uncles have married women from different sects.
The great thing is that the true, cultured and educated Iraqis believe that the gang who dislodges people from a shi'it quarter is the same who does the similar thing to other people in a sunni quarter. Actually MOST Iraqis have already believed in that, the sectarian fightings are SOOO much less than before, actually there is not anymore. I know many friends who had come from Basrah to Mosul as displaced ,and the all came back home, and while they were here I have never heard them that Shia in Basrah made them go, no, I know a man very close friend to daddy and he said once " all my close friends are Shia, and when they heard that i had been threatened they all gathered money to give me to give to the terrorists and offered me to stay at their houses, they would protect me and my family, and I'm here now after i let my house under their control" .
Sometimes I am asked by some men whether I'm sunni or Shi'I, my answer always come as " I wonder, was Muhammad –may peace and God's blessings be upon him- born to be sunni or shi'i? or was Jesus Christ was born to be Christian?"
All the religions and all the sects come for one reason, bringing the benefit for the humans. I have learnt that all the religions call for one main aim, that we all should live peacefully.
And with every new day, we see that, how many cultures are there in the world? So many indeed, and we are all on the same planet. Should who differs with us in liturgy leave to Mars? No, we are all the children of God .
I feel that the great time is so near, even though there is something bad here or there, but it's ok, we are on the true way…
Sandybelle

Two lessons

Whenever I see a glass not filled completely with water, I tell myself and say " I shouldn't look at the empty part of it".
Yes, we should never look or concentrate on the empty half of it, because anyways there is water in it, and our mind should be focusing on how important is the water in this glass. In our life, we could see so many like this glass, and so, we should never look at the empty half.
Iraq, I always think of it, and order myself to work so much harder to serve it, to make it so much more beautiful, with faith nothing impossible, and as I say always, we are here to be together. always, before bed, after saying prayers, I carry my doll and remember the nice moments I spent since my mom brought it to me, how nice is my doll!!! That it's always reminds me of my Iraq, and even though I walk in its streets, but this doll is special, because it gathers all the cities memories, Iraq!! Always send me messages, and every day I discover a new secret, secret warms my little heart, and secret gives me the power that I need to continue my way , to give more ,to see what lies beyond the mountains and to catch the dates which can be found there! As high as the date-palm is!!
In Iraq, there is a people, and people used to challenge the time, used to challenge the circumstances, and used to stand against the strong winds.
Days ago, I was passing by the TV, when I caught a sight of a special interview on a channel called Al-fayha'a ( Al-fayha'a is a channel belongs to the Iraqi city, Al-Basrah, to the south of Iraq, but today its main centre is in Al-sulaymaniyya which is a city in Kurdistan, to the north). I couldn’t leave my place, and there was no near chair, so I sat on the floor so close to the TV (I know, I know, it is harmful for my eyes, but I couldn’t bear the scene), I kept listening and watching attentively , what was going on in that interview?
There was cripple, his name is Soheil , was born in 1972 in Mosul!! But nowadays, he lives in Dohuk, because of the miserable situation in Mosul.
He was sitting on his moving chair, with big smile on his face, his mom in front of him. The seemed to be exchanging looks of hope and great love towards who can be seeing them and towards Iraq. I cant deny I couldn’t hide my tears, I felt helpless and began to blame myself " why I'm not a doctor now? Why I couldn’t help him?why?" I said. But after a while, I found that this man's magnificence is in being a cripple, because he is really better than many healthy people I know. His sayings filled my heart with warmness and great faith, I found out that I have so much to do in my life and so much to seek.

He can't move his body, except his little hands, but his heart and mind is so lively and full of high meanings and amazing thoughts, he is a great leader for us, yes , we have to learn from him, his faith and insistence.
He didn’t enter school , like the other children, but his father( who is a teacher as I remember) , at house, began to teach him writing and reading, so, he can write and read! He can speak and read English too and pretty well!.
With his hands, mind and heart, he could write many articles, special ones in deed. He also could draw a great panorama (about 20 meters in width!!) ,and in time he was working on it, he didn’t do any mistake!! He said that there had been no chance to do any mistake with it. The panorama tells the story of the human-being, since the first age, passing by the civilizations and people at that time ( Sumerians , Akkadians, Assyrians and the pharaohs) , then the time of Abraham the prophet( May peace be upon him), and.. and..
It's very big panorama actually, and my body did quiver at seeing it, and I am still wondering, why I did quiver??!!! Maybe because I could see all the times ago in one moment!! And I could remember the past that I never lived in, but my ancestors did, and my ancestors made this country and taught others writing. and maybe because I could realize how great is the world!!
With his little hands and great mind and heart, he could read more than 500 books!!(I'm not sure of the number). And you should see, how cultured and open-minded he is!!
Soheil, is one of the stars that stud Iraq sky, and his main aim is to do a great survey about Iraq and Iraqi people. Soheil, didn’t lose hope or faith, didn’t think of suicide (like how some HEALTHY people think whenever they face a problem), didn’t give up, because Soheil knows that he is here, and shouldn’t leave this world (like all of us, when we'll leave someday) without doing something reminds all of us and our next generations that he was here one day. Soheil!! That Iraqi simple man!!
I carry a great admiration towards this person. Let me make a bow .
Soheil admires the PM Mr. Noori Al-Maliki, not because he is a PM but because he always repeats the sentence of " we have to work for the ONE'S FREEDOM", because Soheil believes in the freedom that all the religions call for. Soheil and his mother ask the government to do its duty to make our way better than now, and to make Iraq more developed , we have the experience and we have the treasures, the only thing we need is that we have to use our minds in one time together, TOGETHER.
At the end of the show, his mom was asked to say some words, and the only thing she said " stop hallowing the ear, and let's hallow the human himself"Soheil believes that the greatest relationship is the one between the man and Allah. He also believes that all the religions came to serve the human, and no need for the religion if there wasn't humanity. And all the religions carry the same meanings , and we all have to live peacefully with each other, and the best way to live is living with peace and justice.

I won't talk more about him, I will leave you with his articles
English site
Arabic site
May God bless Soheil, and I'm putting my hand in his, we all here to serve our great Iraq

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the iraqi flag is carried by Al-hilfi in the opening ceremony of Beijing.


A few days after that , I watched the starting ceremony of the Olympic games in Beijing .How great it was!! The playground was perfect ( bird's nest), and all the bands were awesome. I liked the section of drawing the dove, it was so special.
Teams from all around the world came to participate, Iraq, Syria, Qatar, Egypt, USA, Canada, Mexico, Italy, Japan, Turkey, Panama, Switzerland, France, Morocco, Korea, Lebanon, Yemen, Iran, Sweden, UK and many many others take part in various sports. The wonderful thing is to see all the world united in one place!! Without differences and without fighting, a great aim is there , the noble competition, and who works the best deserves the gold finally, silver or bronze, and the other aim is to let the flags flutter in the sky.
I see I have to thank China and Beijing for being the mother of all the world for a month :D :D
Although I got pain that Iraq's team is not like the others, Iraq is poor with sports, it needs so much to be improved, but soon I remembered my doll and the future, and my faith came back to me that our way is so large and we are the ones who have to work and the ones who have to complete it.
I still remember the great clapping for the Iraqi team in the ceremony by all people there. I felt that all the world loves Iraq and Iraq is not alone at all, we have our friendships with the other countries, we admire the other cultures and their nations.



World , its such a great place ofr us to live in, with our all differnet cultures, tongues and colours can be united when we want, and we all want to be united, because we are all her for each other. We have to forget all the differences and all our races , we just have to remember that with being with ourselves and being with each other ,we can remain the ones that our ancestors should be proud of.
Our ancestors gave us, so let's make good use of what we got, let's try to live peacefully, and let's get the lessons from Soheil and the Olympic games.

Sandybelle




pictures of children of all the world, with children we see the innocence and so we can live happily... May we save great innocence in our hearts!!..

five circles referring to our simple world, no, it's large world, but we all live in it and make it just like one village, and we are the families, and we all work for making it better.. IT'S OUR WORLD!!

May God bless our World...

It reminds me of every part of me

At 4:00am I woke up, did dawn prayers. Then, the time was 4:20 am, I began to count the seconds, one after one. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven , twelve ,thirteen , fourteen, fifteen and sixteen!!!woww!!

Just now!! I'm sixteen!!

The other night(when I was still fifteen), I kept remembering the sad things that happened all the years ago and forgot them in one minute, I decided to be a new, to take all the chances that have been given to me, this is the best way to have a new day, new year and new life.

I noticed that I had got a text message, I checked my mobile inbox, and said
" Wowwww!! really ??!!! hahaha, let me guess! this is why I had had that great dream yesterday!! because the friend remembered and mentioned me , hahaha" , I really had a great dream , it was like I was a doctor, and was sitting in a beautiful garden, with my best friends, and behind us, there was a hospital which I was in charge of!! My friends kept praising me in the dream. There were many children too, everybody was happy, and my family was flying , very nice plane. There were butterflies , doves , teddy bears and sparrows. Very great dream indeed, I wish you have seen such dream before, if not, I'm sure you will :D

The friend congratulated me, " happy birthday!", that what was written, how great I felt!!

Suddenly, mom woke up, she ran to my room, to make sure if everything was ok. I was extremely embarrassed, I didn’t mean to awake her. Later, she noticed my red cheeks, she kept laughing. When she left the room, I felt of a strange feeling, I cant call it, I just wanted to hug her, to stay on her laps for life, it was like I felt I'm still two minutes old, just like what happened sixteen years ago.

I kept imagining the matter. Mom left to the hospital at 3:00 am, and just at 4:20 she gave birth to me, after almost 7 months pregnancy! Daddy was standing near the window, waiting, after a while, the nurse came to him, and told him that a baby girl was born. Then, daddy, turned to the window, the sun was about to rise, as soon as he saw the first ray, he took a deep breathe, and decided to name me, this is why my name is related to the dawn and sun ,and since that time, I was called "how is her name, how is really she". Ok, dears, this is what I heard from the others about my birth, I wasn’t aware of what was going on at that time, I just realize that I was born, not only to be alive , walk, talk, but I was born to do, and work with the saying " the best one who does do the best for the others".

Then, I suddenly received another text from another great friend, I was very happy, really, just like the plume, flying among roses , with a great mountain behind.
Then, I headed for school ,I took juice and cake. On my way, I remembered the song that daddy was always singing (until I became 7 years old, daddy was always singing for me, carrying me between his arms and walking all around the room, so, I could sleep comfortably. :D

It is an Arabic song, but this can be a good translation for it
" from a city to city , from a place to place, all your days, you!! little sparrow!! couldn’t love any person but my little baby. You !!Soleil (he means me) , you !!jasmine!! our yearning took us , from a place to a place"

I love this song so much.

Then, the driver said suddenly" Sandy!! Don't you hear me? We arrived school!!"

"oh!!yes!!" I answered.

I entered the school, and took my way to the teachers' room, I entered it, there was the headmaster, the assistant, and my chemistry teacher, I was full of shyness and said" good morning, I just brought some cake for you, today is.."
" oh man!!! it is her birthday!!" chemistry teacher interrupted me.
Then, the headmaster came and gave me a kiss on my front( he always reminds me of my grandpa, oh, how much I miss my grandpa!) and said" I don’t want to say anything, but may all your dreams come true, may you be the great person you want to be, may you be a great doctor , to serve our Iraq, to please your parents and to make me happy ".
" I hope I'll see you celebrating your birthday in surgery room!! with bodies around you, hahaha, I'll keep laughing at you at that time , you little girl, hahaha" chemistry teacher said.( chemistry teacher is a very funny man, he loves me so much, once I could read his mind!!haha)
Then, Arabic language teacher came, and saw me, the headmaster told him about the matter.
" so!! Last Friday, when you had the war against bees , you was only 15 !!hahaha" Arabic language teacher said.
((last Friday, I had an Arabic language lesson, and I was sitting next to the window, when many bees wanted to sting me. Actually, I thought first that it was one bee, and whenever I kill it, I found another one . ' Sir!!it is one bee with seven souls!!" I said to the teacher.
" but do you know that today you became a great terrorist against e bees!!!hahaha, dear , there is a hive near the window, it It's better for you to change your place" he answered.))
" Oh!! So , we aren't the only ones who love her!!! You love her too!!" the headmaster said.
" I have already told you that I love her the most, and more than how you do" Arabic language teacher answered.
"and I love her too, I remember her very well, when she came to do the text to join the Smartest students school, which is in Baghdad, but her father felt worried about sending her there, because Baghdad wasn't good at that time. happy birthday for me sweet daughter!!" another chemistry teacher added as soon as he entered the room.
I felt so high, I wanted to fly, no, I was flying inside. It is so nice to realize that many people ,of whom you meet, love you at that much, and it leads you to decide to remain the person in their eyes, and to do all your best to BE.
I left their room, and took my way to the class, where I had an exam and got full makr in!!haha.
Then, I took my lessons. in the end of the day,all the teachers came and thanked me to remember them in this special day. Then I went to the worker at our school, I gave him something, I don’t know how he could feel, but the only thing I can say is that I saw a great sheen in his eyes, he kept praying for me.
I took my way back home, as soon as I arrived, I remembered my feeling, and hugged my mom, it was like it was the first time I hug her in!!!
Sisters were talking in whispers. I had lunch and went to study, at 7:30 pm. I had a small party at my house, when my friend Sj came(she lives in our neighborhood), and we kept listening to music, and talking about different things. At last she thanked me for letting her sharing my this special occasion.
I received texts messages from my other friends congratulating me,(many of whom I invited couldn’t come, they either had wedding parties of their relatives or the ways were blocked.( I received 27 texts!!haha)
I received a text from my friend Ran, then , she called me, she kept talking about the days we spent together , about every moment we laughed together in, we played and sang. About our picnics and how happy , wonderful and beautiful we were together!!
Do you know what? Many of my other friends had believed at first that she could be my twin!! The same out look, and a great harmony was between us.
In the evening, my sisters invited me to the special party (party for the three sisters only), and kept hugging me, and saying wishes. I felt so much happy.
In the night, I went to be, just like everyday , but that day was special, the first day, the first night I'm sixteen.
I said prayers, and kept thinking of my future, there is so much waiting for me to do.
I'm sure that Allah will always be, he is always here, and this is why I could be happy.
I remembered everything I have learned , and decided to make all my mistakes a source of learning, this is the best way for me to be pleased.
My faith leads me, my eyes can see, but the only thing that I devote my all life for to be able to see is The sun and what lies beyond it.

I made a wish and blew candles. May the wish come true, as well as yours.

Be happy like how I was, so, you will realize how much I feel I'm alive.

Sandybelle

Update: situation here is so-so, everyone is talking about a new military operation.
I'm calling Maf from time to time, and she is doing well, I'm trying to do all my best with her, and I can notice how much she feels better now, but we all have to remember that no one can replace mammy.but as I always tell her, we are all here for her, and we are all together.
I kept talking to her offering help and I told her to join the private lessons with me (and I already arranged that, and was ready to pay the money for them, just if she said yes. but no, her dignity led her ot refuse my offers, although I did my best to make her believe that what I'm doing is not as charity, no, it is my duty that I help her, because I love her very much. She kept thanking me , then, I kept repeating words to encourage her, that I'm always here for her.
Iraqi students of 6th class of high schools received their marks, so many of my friends were very happy for their results. But other students say that the questions were not easy. My opinion is that the questions shouldn't be easy, although we don’t have electricity and any good studying spaces, but we are Iraqis and we used to challenge the age and the circumstances, and this is why we are different, we are the men who told people how to create cultures, we are the makers of the first civilizations, we are a great people. And as well, joining college is not that simple thing, only the students who really deserve to go to the college that they like should get their true chances as I see, and I saw the questions actually, they were not difficult, and they were not easy. This is my teachers' opinion too.
My friend basma got 89%, Zuzu got 93%( which I considered as a great achievement if we remember the horrible times she faced. Saba' got 95,4%, Arwa got 95;7%.
The averages are not that high this year, the first successful student who is from Baghdad got 97,9% whose name is Sama. My only wish is that everyone got as much as he/she gave. May God bless everyone…