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My Life
Daliya F. Shawkat

Iraq

GALLERY

CONVERSATION

I completed my primary and secondary school in Al-Diwaniya (a city south of Baghdad). Then I went to Al -Mousil (north of Baghdad) to...

Both of my parents were doctors and when I was young they frequently left me and my brothers and sisters alone in the house because they had to work. During the Gulf war my mom was a manager in a children and women's hospital in Al-Diwaniya.

In 1991, when I was in third grade, I remember that one morning around 4:00 am I woke up to the sound of the phone. I answered the phone; it was a man asking for my mom so I went to my parent’s bedroom. I woke my mom telling her: "Mom, mom, there is someone who wants you on the phone, wake up mom." She thought that the hospital wanted her for emergency case, so she picked up the phone and said, "Hello?” Then there was a silent moment; then she said "Ok, I’m coming now.

At that time the city of Al-Diwaniya was out of government control. So, after forty days the American bombing was finished and there were no policemen in the city, poor people began loot the governmental institutions and the Iranian army sent soldiers to capture the city. They did not allow women to go to the street without a head kerchief. That situation continued for about ten days.
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