Hey!

Sorry it has been so long since an update. Things have been very busy the last few weeks. A delegation came and went. Me and Lukasz took a bus to Turkey to meet them. It was pretty cool traveling but Turkey was pretty intense. Overall the delegation went well. The people were cool and we saw a lot of great people. Most of the villages/camps we visited I had already been to. The last village we visited, I had been to about a week before and had lunch/five cups of tea with our friend who I'll just call Kaka, which basically means sir in Kurdish. When we took the delegation to Kaka's house, we had tea and went around the room to introduce ourselves. When it was my turn, I said I'm from the u.s.a.. Kaka looked at me and said "No, you're from Kurdistan." That was pretty awesome.

Well, I leave in three days. I'm excited to go back home. I'm also sick right now. That sucks bad.

I left Oklahoma eight weeks ago. I don't know how I feel about it. I can't make up my mind whether or not it feels like I've really been gone this long. In some ways yes, in some ways no. I miss home though. But I'm also really happy I'm here. It's going to be weird/bittersweet when I leave.

In other news, I took a hot shower today. Until now the water I showered in came from a tank on the roof, I think so it was never hot, but not really cold. I quit showering when it started cooling down so I was getting pretty gross. It's pretty stupid but I thought in my mind I would just go without a shower instead of taking a cold one. I decided to find a way to heat up water and bathe with it somehow but I never thought of a good way to do that. Then I found out the house I'm in has a boiler on the first floor so I can take a hot shower basically whenever if the boiler is turned on in advance. I think that's pretty funny. I feel sooooooo good right now. It's amazing.


I'll be home in about three weeks. And a delegation is coming next week, so that's cool.

We made shirts for a conference this weekend. Mine says "Make Falafel, Not War" in Kurdish, of course.

The scenery on the way to Rania is beautiful. I'm probably going to pursue a career in modeling when I get back to the U.S.

Chihchun and Sr. Rosemarie.

This is a village we visited near the Turkish border.

My hat flew off while riding in the back of a truck.

With Magda in a cave in some mountain.

Just about to eat dinner with some good friends.

I love this picture. This is the view from our roof in Suli.

The bus station in Halabja.

This is basically a headstone for a mass grave in Halabja.

Some dudes roasting a chicken at the bazaar.

The street at the bazaar.

One of Saddam's tanks at a museum.

Sharing an intimate moment with Lukasz.

Iraq Update August 1 - 31

Each month we summarize the different things we've done in a update which is sent out to the whole CPT constituency. I was responsible for the August update. I am posting it here if people are interested in learning about what kept us busy last month. I'm going to try to put together a post full of pictures soon. People have been asking to see pictures so I'll try to share some soon. I'm getting used to being here. It's interesting that I've only been in Iraq for six weeks and I already feel like life here is normal. I'm happy being here even though I miss family/friends back home. The first two weeks here there were only three people on team. Now there are five of us. The more the merrier. I enjoy social interaction so being around more people helps me not miss home as much. Love, Stefan.



On team during this time were: Chihchun Yuan, Garland Robertson, David Hovde, Stefan Warner, and Lukasz Firla


Visits, at home and away
The month started off with the team visiting the Zakhmatkeshan Iranian refugee camp. The team interviewed multiple people, mostly learning about the situation of Kurdish Iranians. David met with the priest of the local Chaldean Catholic church to learn about the situation of Christians now in Suleimaniya and some of the history of their experience in Iraq.
The team attended a special Parliament meeting in regards to the current plight of villagers who are affected by Iranian shelling.

Karwan, attorney shot the spring protests, and his fiancé visited the house to further discuss his foot after the shooting. He also shared about further harassment him and his family have received. A young man from the NGO, Preemptive Love Coalition visited the team. Preemptive Love Coalition works with the local medical community in dealing with young children who were born with heart defects. The team traveled to Rania where seven civilians were killed in an aerial attack by Turkish military. The team was invited to attend part of the funeral for the family. The team also interviewed partners from Rania about the attack.

Actions
Much of the team’s work this month dealt with organizing and carrying out public actions in response to Iranian shelling and Turkish bombings. Local partners expressed excitement about this because there has been little international pressure about the shelling and there is fear that the there would be repression if KRG citizens took part and/or organized these actions.

The first action took place in front of the Iranian consulate in Hawler, The action went well, a statement was read and given to the representative of the consulate. Media covered the event and spread back to Suleimaniya where someone recognized Garland on the street from the television and thanked him for the action. Local partners expressed interest in the team continuing the actions so the team planned another action in Hawler but in front of the KRG Parliament building. The action went well. The team invited some folks from the IDP camp to come and join the action. One man did join the action. He was able to speak with the media and three members of Parliament.

The team decided to organize another demonstration, this time in front of the U.S. Consulate. While planning the action, the family of seven was killed by the Turkish military. So the team decided to also stop by the Turkish consulate in Hawler to deliver a statement and speak with the Consul. The team joined by three Kurdish men set up across the street from the U.S. consulate for the action. After demonstrating for an hour, the group went across the street to speak with the Consul, who would not speak with anyone from the group. Garland and the team’s adviser spoke with the press in front of the Consulate until security demanded the group to leave.


Other Happenings
Lukasz Firla arrived from Europe in the latter part of August after doing outreach for CPT in the summer. A couple folks from the team visited Halabja to learn the history of the chemical bomb massacre in 1988. Team said good-bye to its beloved Doug Pritchard, who has faithfully been the team's project support coordinator for many years and welcomed its new temporary support coordinator Sylvia Morison. It was a bittersweet skype call.

International Day of Peace

 So apparently today is the International Day of Peace. Nobody mentioned it today on team so I'm assuming nobody else knew. I just found out and I'm about to go to sleep. Makes me laugh for some reason.



"The arc of universe is long but it bends towards justice" - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
I want this to be true. Some days, like today, I have a hard time believing it. I've been reading about Troy Davis who is scheduled to be killed in a few hours by the State of Georgia. I also read about the victim of the crime Mr. Davis is accused of committing. A off-duty copy who tried to break up a fight. He was shot and killed. The man's kids are around my age. They grew up without a father. Palestine is trying to gain member state status in the U.N. but it probably won't happen. The occupation will continue and the U.S. will continue to give military aid. The situation everyday in Iraq is depressing enough. Traditional Kurdish culture continues to be a major victim of the on going conflict between rebel groups vs. Turkey and Iran. People are killed and displaced regularly. The man who housed us when I visited the San Pedro Frio mining community last summer with CPT recently received a death threat. So yeah, I have a hard time with the quote above but I don't want to give up hope.
 I don't even know what to say at this point. I feel like I should have some inspirational shit to type here but I don't. Maybe the alternative to caring and trying to bear witness to the Kin-dom of God is giving up. Maybe move on and "grow up". Forget that. I don't have anything else to say so I'll leave you with this.
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Sorry I haven't posted anything lately. Here is a reflection I wrote for CPT. If you have any
thoughts or critiques, feel free to share.
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      I recently attended a funeral for a family that was killed by the Turkish military. The family was traveling in a car when a Turkish warplane conducting air strikes in Northern Iraq launched a rocket that hit the family's truck. Seven people in total were killed, including a six month old baby girl. The funeral was in Kurdish, a language that is new to me, so I did not understand what was being said so I couldn't help but contemplate. I couldn't help but think about the question most people I imagine ask when attending a funeral. Why? Why has this family died? Why will this six month old baby not be able to grow old, be loved, and love others, like I have? I asked my self these questions not in some type of existential crisis but in practicality. Why did the Turkish military send warplanes into Iraq that eventually killed this family? The easy answer would be because recently the PKK (an armed Kurdish group fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region in Turkey) claimed responsibility for an ambush that left 14 Turkish soldiers dead in South East Turkey.

             So it seems simple, if only the PKK would stop the violence against the Turkish state, then Turkey would not retaliate and innocent people wouldn't die. Right? Possibly. But before condemning an oppressed group for using violent tactics, it is necessary to understand the conditions that lead up to this behavior. In short, is there a reason the PKK has taken up arms against Turkey? The answer is yes. Starting in the 1930's a policy of assimilation and "turkification" was set in place. Thousands of Kurdish people died as a result, usually during forced resettlement. Well into the 1980's Human Rights Watch has documented numerous examples of the Turkish military forcibly evacuating villages and destroying homes to prevent the return of Kurdish inhabitants. Earlier this year Turkey's electoral board bared prominent Kurdish candidates from running elections which infuriated the Kurdish population. To this day the Turkish government refuses to recognize the Kurdish people as a distinct minority. With that said, I do not support the violence done by PKK and I mourn the deaths of Turkish military personnel. But what can be expected when a nation-state oppresses an ethnic group for eighty years?

           I think Archbishop Hélder Câmara sums it up in his tract, The Spiral of Violence "Violence attracts Violence. Let us repeat fearlessly and ceaselessly: injustices bring revolt, either from the oppressed or from the young, determined to fight for a more human world." Archbishop Câmara explains that there are three levels of violence. Number one is some injustice, an example would be slavery. Number two is revolt. Number three is repression. When justice is withheld it is almost inevitable that an oppressed group will lash out with violence. In U.S. history one can look at Nat Turner as a similar example. Nat Turner was born into slavery in Virginia, a preacher who eventually led a slave rebellion. Much violence was done by Nat Turner and his followers but it was not senseless. It was the result of intense violence and oppression done to him and his people by white slave masters, who I believe share the ultimate blame. I'm still a pacifist. I am still a follower of Jesus and I hope his example of non-violence can lead us all out of oppression and domination. With that said, I hope we who are proponents of love and non-violence will remember that this is a complicated world.  Let us fight the temptation to condemn the oppressed but to look past the layers of violence and remember where the original violence started. Some might disagree with me and think I am treading into non-violent heresy. So be it. I would like to end this reflection with a quote from the beloved champion of non-violence, Gandhi. "Though violence is not lawful, when it is offered in self-defense or for the defense of the defenseless, it is an act of bravery far better than cowardly submission. The latter befits neither man nor woman. Under violence, there are many stages and varieties of bravery. Every man must judge this for himself. No other person can or has the right."

Recently Turkey bombed some targets in Kurdish Iraq in retaliation for a PKK attack that killed some Turkish soldiers. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44179345/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/ This article has some more info but I think its pretty biased towards Turkey. Multiple Kurdish civilians have died in the past few days as a result of Turkish bombings. I saw pictures of a family that was driving in a car that was bombed. The whole family died. It was gruesome. Today we will be traveling to the area where some of the bombings happened to attend a funeral and meet with some family of those who had died recently. What I find hard to understand is that a rebel group that is tagged as a "terrorist organization" attacks Turkish forces, kills some soldiers but doesn't harm civilians. Then Turkey retaliates, kills multiple civilians, but doesn't kill any members of the PKK. Which group sounds like a terrorist organization?

I'm not sure if anybody is reading this or not but for those of you that are unfamiliar with the organization I am working with in Northern Iraq, I would like to summarize what/who Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) is. Before discussing CPT, it helps to let you know that I am a member of a Mennonite church. I started attending Joy Mennonite Church about three years ago and it has been extremely influential in my life, if it wasn't for Joy Mennonite I probably wouldn't have gotten involved with CPT. If you are unfamiliar with the Mennonite Church, I would encourage you to check out this link. Generally speaking, Mennonites take seriously the teachings of Jesus, which means we are pacifist. That is one of the biggest beliefs that separate us from other Christian traditions. Many people involved with CPT are Mennonite, but CPT itself is ecumenical, meaning its members and supporters come from all kinds of churches and faiths. So with that said, here is some text from the CPT website that does a better job of explaining CPT than anything I could say.

"Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) is a living answer to the question, "what would happen if Christians devoted the same discipline and self-sacrifice to nonviolent peacemaking that armies devote to war?"  It is an evolving challenge.

Partnering with nonviolent movements around the world, CPT seeks to embody an inclusive, ecumenical and diverse community of God's love.  We believe we can transform war and occupation, our own lives, and the wider Christian world through:

• the nonviolent power of God's truth
• partnership with local peacemakers
• bold action

CPT places teams at the invitation of local peacemaking communities that are confronting situations of lethal conflict.  These teams seek to follow God's Spirit as it works through local peacemakers who risk injury and death by waging nonviolent direct action to confront systems of violence and oppression.

CPT understands violence to be rooted in systemic structures of oppression. We are committed to undoing oppressions, starting within our own lives and in the practices of our organization."

The undoing oppressions aspect of CPT's work is something I find very crucial. It is challenging but necessary. In the training program we did modules on Undoing Racism, Undoing Sexism, Undoing Heterosexism, and Sexual Harassment. You can check out this link if you would like to read more about undoing oppressions. If you only read one of the articles, I would probably suggest White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh.

I'm working with the Iraq team for the next two months. The team has a couple different projects currently but the focus is documenting human rights abuses along the Iran and Turkish borders of Iraq. Due to a long history of Kurdish repression, two rebel groups along the borders are fighting for Kurdish autonomy. Turkey and Iran respond with cross-border bombings, which often destroy village life if not kill innocent people. Iranian bombings have killed many civilians this year, including a ten year old boy. If you would like to see the fruits of the team's labor, you can read a report the team published recently titled "Where there is a promise, there is tragedy: cross-border bombings and shellings of villages in the Kurdish region of Iraq by the nations of Turkey and Iran"

I hope this post accurately describes CPT as well as the Iraq team. If you have any questions or comments, please share. You can email me here.

I arrived safely at the CPT house in Suli Friday at 2am. Friday is the team's day off so I was able to rest and try to shake the jet lag. The traveling went well. I was worried something would go wrong and I would be stuck in Istanbul or something but that didn't happen. The flight to Istanbul was ten hours long. I sat next to a young Turkish woman who wants to move to the US. Her English was pretty good so we talked quite a bit. When I told her I was on my way to Iraq for a couple months she was pretty alarmed. "But aren't you going to miss pancakes, cheeseburgers, french fries, and Dr. Pepper?" She wasn't kidding. It seemed like her favorite part of Western culture is processed food. She was in the US for twenty days and went to a diner for pancakes every morning, no joke. She told me her luggage was filled with marshmallows and Oreos since she didn't know when she would be able to go back to the US. As we talked more it was clear that her love of the West went deeper than food. She explained that she is very independent and that doesn't go over very well in Turkey. Eventually she would like to move the to US but she doesn't think she will be able to get citizenship without marrying someone in the US. She then said if she wanted to get married and stay home with kids she could do that in Turkey.

The people on team here are super nice and helpful. The biggest challenge so far is the jet lag. I've read a little bit about jet lag and I'm definitely feeling it. When I got to the house in Suli, I felt exhausted but I had a hard time getting to sleep. Eventually I fell asleep but it wasn't until 10am and I slept til 6pm. So the next night's sleep was off too. I was pretty tired and felt terrible yesterday but I did my best to be present and enjoy the day. I went to bed at 9pm or so and woke up at 5am. I don't know what it is about 5am but it wakes me up every time. I'm hoping I can sleep past it tomorrow morning. I also had a pretty killer headache which is associated with Jet lag but I think that is over with.

Also, I'm thankful for Skype. I was able to talk to my parents Friday. That was awesome. I knew I would miss them but I was taken aback a little at how emotional I felt hearing my mom's voice. She is pretty awesome so I shouldn't be surprised. It took my dad a minute to believe it was me calling. Eventually he asked how I was calling and after I explained he kept saying "woah!". I love that dude.

Well, thats it for now. I don't if anybody is reading this or not but feel free to tell me what you think.
Much love, Stefan

ps: I don't have time right now to check this for typos and grammatical errors so please forgive me for any mistakes. 

If you don't know, I will be leaving Wednesday, August 10th for Iraq. I will be there until Halloween. I will be working with Christian Peacemaker Teams(CPT). The basic jist of CPT is violence reduction work. CPT Iraq specifically "works toward accompanying displaced persons home by living in conflicted border regions and documenting human rights violations against civilian populations." The quote is from CPT's website, http://www.cpt.org/. You can check out CPT Iraq's page here. This blog will hopefully be a way I can keep in touch with people and let people know what I'm doing.

Alot has been on my mind the past couple weeks as you can imagine. In addition to excitement, anticipation, etc, I have been stressed some about traveling by myself and fundraising but thankfully those feelings are gone, for now at least. It's finally hitting me how much I'm going to miss folks while I'm gone. I know eleven weeks isn't very long in the grand scheme of things but it's close to being the longest I've been outside of Oklahoma. As I type this though, I start feeling ridiculous that my biggest problem currently is missing my family/friends because I will be away for eleven weeks which is largely based on the privilege I recieve, not earn, due to the social location I find myself in i.e.: white, heterosexual male with a US passport. I would like to go into this deeper at some point but this post was supposed to be brief so I'm going to stop now. Feel free to comment or email me if you want.

Much love, Stefan