Maryknoll Sisters

Greetings from Iraq.  I pray that all is well in America.

We just returned from a week-long trip to the mountains and are getting ready to send off the delegation.  There were four people who came to Kurdistan. We took them to many of our sites so they would have an opportunity to live in the context of what is happening here and then go tell the story.  We are hoping that they will return home with a heightened state of awareness that will break into some of the lives of people there, many of whom have compassion fatigue. These four are young, optimistic and eager for peace.  However, some of the tales they heard held them back. 

Sr. Rosemarie is helping build peace in northern Iraq, where she visited villages targeted in border violence.

 We went to several camps and met many villagers who told us the same story….”we just want peace, we want to be a Kurdish nation.”  

They saw devastated villages and one home that had a huge bomb hole in the roof.   We also saw frightened children who have heard too much shooting and too many bombs.

Yesterday, I was invited to dinner at the home of one of the women I knew from last year.  She is struggling with leukemia and her family wants to take her to Germany for treatment, as treatment here is not available.

On my way to her home, the driver of the taxi spoke of his wife who was struggling  with bone cancer. The war, the chemical bombings are still having dreadful effects.  In the IDP (Internally Displaced People) camp, I walked through the apple orchards with Miriam. She has already had cancer and her sister has already died of cancer.  What devastation to a people who only want peace and their own nationhood.

My time here is coming to an end and, as usual, goodbye’s are dreadfully hard.  I find this especially hard as I am not sure how these folks will do in the next months.

Blessings of peace and love,

 – Sister Rosemarie Milazzo, MM

A Kurdish family from Iraq

Greetings from Suli, Iraq. I arrived last Tuesday, after a long trip to Istanbul, one day’s stay in Istanbul and finally arriving here the next day. I was met by other members of our peace team. We are five at the moment, but one is leaving, so we will remain four: one from the Czech Republic, another from the UK, an American from Oklahoma, and me.

Immediately upon arriving, we had a short orientation updating me on the team’s activities these months. There was a long trip planned for Thursday, and the team agreed that I would go with another team member. I had not been there so I was happy for this chance. We were doing an accompaniment. Two men were presenting their paper to the United Nations in Hawler, Iraq, and wanted accompaniment from our group, which is called Christian Peacemaker Teams.

One of the men was a journalist who had already been in the three-month fasting demonstration, and more recently, he was one of the people involved in the Bloody Strike. Folks took their own blood, smeared it on their clothes and hands and walked through the town. They wanted to show that they were in solidarity with the martyrs who had already shed their blood seeking justice.

It was a very fine trip….the younger man was a sculptor and both were very happy that we would go with them. Both are activists and wanted to present their paper on their struggles as well as their requests to the UN for help.

The UN person was very polite, listened intently, seemed very involved with us, read the paper, etc. However, unfortunately, he explained that the UN here is a humanitarian aid group, invited by the government, and humanitarian aid is all that they can offer. The two men were disappointed once again. This trip took all day as we were so far away, but they once again told us how happy they were to have us accompany them.

On Saturday, a non-governmental organization invited us to be with them as they demonstrated. This was a lovely march….all carried bamboo plants and signs speaking about the importance of keeping our earth healthy.

Life goes on here….I was able to get to the Chaldean Church on Sunday evening. The Church is guarded by soldiers, but they are much friendlier than they were last year. I already visited the Sisters I had met last year; that was such a touching visit. Thank God, they are all well.

Today, we met with the sculptor, activist, once again. It is good to be back. We have a heavy schedule ahead. A delegation coming from the United States for ten days, a peace marathon-conference in Erbil next week. In addition, I have to take my turn preparing meals….I am with good cooks, makes it tough for me!

– Sister Rosemarie Milazzo, MM