What's happening? and meeting Tariq Al-Hashimi!
Friday, May 23, 2008
The curfew didn't last long. Since last Thursday we've been allowed freedom of movement for 12 hours everyday (6 AM - 6 PM), and so I was able to go to college on Sunday finally.
I got my exam results and they were either equal to or more than expected.. I am very happy with them and I'm hoping it wouldn't be too hard to get excellent marks at the final as well.
I received a shipment of very good programming books for our college today (Sent by Dr. Cline) and I am going to take it to college first thing on Sunday inshallah. It was sent in 2007, it was one of the only two boxes that we thought were lost. It thus seems that packages don't get lost but rather forgotten about or altered in the way.
*********
On Tuesday morning mom woke me up and told me the neighborhood is surrounded and we aren't even allowed to walk outside and get to the university. I was very bothered because I had important lectures that I just can not do without.. We expected them to search the house but being four women and one man who's had a surgery recently we looked anything but suspicious and they didn't really search anything, just took a look around few rooms.
Seeing how uncomfortable I were mom told them that I had an exam that I can not miss.. the soldiers were very polite but they just wouldn't let me go. Finally however they allowed us to walk but mom had already made plans and HNK decided she wouldn't go to college and so I somehow ended up going to college with far neighbors I have never seen before. I made it to college a bit late but I didn't miss much. I was very excited and happy to have reached it that time passed so quickly and my friends were irritated when I expressed how fast it ended.
********
Yesterday I was very very sleepy, the second lecture was more than a bore and I was about to fall asleep when the assistant dean came into the class and called my name, A's and K's names (both are male classmates of mine), we tried to know what he wanted from us but we couldn't understand much. There seemed to be a meeting and all we were asked to do was say it as it is. I was afraid nevertheless, I do not feel comfortable talking among a crowd but he said I didn't have to say anything unless I was asked. We waited downstairs and the number of students called for duty was increasing, it was obvious this meeting wasn't normal.. I spent about half an hour talking with A and K then I proposed the idea of calling my friend Z with us since she's diplomatic and talkative, we proposed the idea to a professor and soon he asked us to call two more students from our class. We called Z and D though the latter has very low marks unlike the rest of us who have the 4 highest marks in class but he's also talkative and is always a joy to have around.
The suspense was killing us, we were about 40 students if I am not wrong, from different stages and departments, they made us sit in a classroom and we just sat talking and making speculations of what we were about to have. Then we saw guards outside the class and we knew something important was going to happen. A suggested Tariq Al-Hashimi who came to Mosul a couple of days ago is going to meet with us but the idea seemed very strange, and having boycotted watching the news they had to explain who Tariq Al-Hashimi is to me. He turned out to be the vice president of Iraq! The idea started to sink in as the security measurements increased, they took away our mobiles, pens and just about everything. They searched us thoroughly and told us to go upstairs.
More waiting and searching.. they searched the cooler ducts, the back of the clock hanging on the wall and the bottom of the chairs the important personalities were going to sit on.. It took about an hour I think till the camera men came and following them were Tariq Al-Hashimi, the president of the university, the dean of our college, Ibrahim Al-Nie'ma and many others.
The dean of our college took a minute to introduce and welcome Al-Hashimi into the university. Then the latter asked us to present any problems we're having regarding the university and the security situation. About five students stood up and presented problems we're having, including A and Z who did a good job. They talked about the employment problems, the lack of useful lab equipments, the need for scholarships for new graduates to study abroad, the conditions in the students' residence inside campus and stuff like that. I had things to say but I didn't have the courage to stand up in front of all these people let alone in the presence of a camera.
Tariq Al-Hashimi in the middle and the president of the university on his right.. probably in the Scientific and literary forum where he met a number of professors of the university and the deans of its colleges.
Source.
The president of the university talked about the lab conditions in the two engineering colleges in the university and that they will need huge amounts of money to get them in shape and up-to-date. He also talked about how the only graduates from universities outside Iraq are the old professors only in college and how the graduates of Mosul university return back to teach in the university after graduation. It's like a loop and the consequences are not good at all. Then he started comparing our colleges with colleges abroad and the facilities they have there.
Al-Hashimi started talking afterwards about how the employment issue is not going to be solved unless bigger issues like terrorism are solved. The construction phase has not started (and can not start) yet and that will be the time we're most needed. He said it is a shame that upon graduation and spending our lives studying, the most we can dream of is a small shop where we will be using little of what we've learned, and might even start working as taxi drivers or join the police. He admits there are problems, and the solutions are obvious but there are obstructions to these and so he switched to talking about terrorism..
I was excited at first, what a post it's going to be I thought but I soon went absent-minded and didn't pay much attention! such a great journalist I am! and I kept mistaking Al-Maliki with Al-Hashimi the whole day afterwards getting few of my friends confused..
**********
Upon knowing the I didn't say anything, the looks of HNK and mom were torturing me. They were very disappointed by me. Just yesterday I was talking about how the students never complain about certain college problems to the professors when they ask us if anything is wrong.
I was called to the dean's room few weeks ago with two students from other departments to discuss the state of a certain lecture. I kept talking and talking and often had to force myself to stop to give the other students a chance to talk. But today was a special case, it needed more than courage, and there was actually hope for a change unlike that meeting which resulted in nothing.
I asked mom if she would've talked assuming she was put in the same situation, she said she wouldn't have but I am more courageous and must have done it. Well I just couldn't do it but if I were given a second chance, I would.. there might be a second chance, who knows!
I got my exam results and they were either equal to or more than expected.. I am very happy with them and I'm hoping it wouldn't be too hard to get excellent marks at the final as well.
I received a shipment of very good programming books for our college today (Sent by Dr. Cline) and I am going to take it to college first thing on Sunday inshallah. It was sent in 2007, it was one of the only two boxes that we thought were lost. It thus seems that packages don't get lost but rather forgotten about or altered in the way.
*********
On Tuesday morning mom woke me up and told me the neighborhood is surrounded and we aren't even allowed to walk outside and get to the university. I was very bothered because I had important lectures that I just can not do without.. We expected them to search the house but being four women and one man who's had a surgery recently we looked anything but suspicious and they didn't really search anything, just took a look around few rooms.
Seeing how uncomfortable I were mom told them that I had an exam that I can not miss.. the soldiers were very polite but they just wouldn't let me go. Finally however they allowed us to walk but mom had already made plans and HNK decided she wouldn't go to college and so I somehow ended up going to college with far neighbors I have never seen before. I made it to college a bit late but I didn't miss much. I was very excited and happy to have reached it that time passed so quickly and my friends were irritated when I expressed how fast it ended.
********
Yesterday I was very very sleepy, the second lecture was more than a bore and I was about to fall asleep when the assistant dean came into the class and called my name, A's and K's names (both are male classmates of mine), we tried to know what he wanted from us but we couldn't understand much. There seemed to be a meeting and all we were asked to do was say it as it is. I was afraid nevertheless, I do not feel comfortable talking among a crowd but he said I didn't have to say anything unless I was asked. We waited downstairs and the number of students called for duty was increasing, it was obvious this meeting wasn't normal.. I spent about half an hour talking with A and K then I proposed the idea of calling my friend Z with us since she's diplomatic and talkative, we proposed the idea to a professor and soon he asked us to call two more students from our class. We called Z and D though the latter has very low marks unlike the rest of us who have the 4 highest marks in class but he's also talkative and is always a joy to have around.
The suspense was killing us, we were about 40 students if I am not wrong, from different stages and departments, they made us sit in a classroom and we just sat talking and making speculations of what we were about to have. Then we saw guards outside the class and we knew something important was going to happen. A suggested Tariq Al-Hashimi who came to Mosul a couple of days ago is going to meet with us but the idea seemed very strange, and having boycotted watching the news they had to explain who Tariq Al-Hashimi is to me. He turned out to be the vice president of Iraq! The idea started to sink in as the security measurements increased, they took away our mobiles, pens and just about everything. They searched us thoroughly and told us to go upstairs.
More waiting and searching.. they searched the cooler ducts, the back of the clock hanging on the wall and the bottom of the chairs the important personalities were going to sit on.. It took about an hour I think till the camera men came and following them were Tariq Al-Hashimi, the president of the university, the dean of our college, Ibrahim Al-Nie'ma and many others.
The dean of our college took a minute to introduce and welcome Al-Hashimi into the university. Then the latter asked us to present any problems we're having regarding the university and the security situation. About five students stood up and presented problems we're having, including A and Z who did a good job. They talked about the employment problems, the lack of useful lab equipments, the need for scholarships for new graduates to study abroad, the conditions in the students' residence inside campus and stuff like that. I had things to say but I didn't have the courage to stand up in front of all these people let alone in the presence of a camera.
Source.
The president of the university talked about the lab conditions in the two engineering colleges in the university and that they will need huge amounts of money to get them in shape and up-to-date. He also talked about how the only graduates from universities outside Iraq are the old professors only in college and how the graduates of Mosul university return back to teach in the university after graduation. It's like a loop and the consequences are not good at all. Then he started comparing our colleges with colleges abroad and the facilities they have there.
Al-Hashimi started talking afterwards about how the employment issue is not going to be solved unless bigger issues like terrorism are solved. The construction phase has not started (and can not start) yet and that will be the time we're most needed. He said it is a shame that upon graduation and spending our lives studying, the most we can dream of is a small shop where we will be using little of what we've learned, and might even start working as taxi drivers or join the police. He admits there are problems, and the solutions are obvious but there are obstructions to these and so he switched to talking about terrorism..
I was excited at first, what a post it's going to be I thought but I soon went absent-minded and didn't pay much attention! such a great journalist I am! and I kept mistaking Al-Maliki with Al-Hashimi the whole day afterwards getting few of my friends confused..
**********
Upon knowing the I didn't say anything, the looks of HNK and mom were torturing me. They were very disappointed by me. Just yesterday I was talking about how the students never complain about certain college problems to the professors when they ask us if anything is wrong.
I was called to the dean's room few weeks ago with two students from other departments to discuss the state of a certain lecture. I kept talking and talking and often had to force myself to stop to give the other students a chance to talk. But today was a special case, it needed more than courage, and there was actually hope for a change unlike that meeting which resulted in nothing.
I asked mom if she would've talked assuming she was put in the same situation, she said she wouldn't have but I am more courageous and must have done it. Well I just couldn't do it but if I were given a second chance, I would.. there might be a second chance, who knows!
Labels: book project, college, curfew, news
