Amed

I am now in Amed. I am not here in work so i have been checking out some historic places and other projects in this very modern and nice capital town of Northern Kurdistan. It is a great pleasure to bee here.

After my South Africa combined work and vacation i traveled back to Sweden. The one week work in Durban was very successful as already explained. Beside of this there are other plans for cooperation with South Africa ın the aspect of student exchange since South Africa is a very modern country wıth great possibilities.

The two week vacation was nice also. I finished the PADI rescue diver training and rented a car and did some great dives around all South Africa. The greatest was with 3-4 meter long tiger sharks and there were 40 of them. The seal dives was also pretty nice but the super-hyped Suduana national park was too boring and a way too long driving for getting bored.

After South Africa i went back to Sweden just because i booked the ticket like that. After a couple of days i traveled back to South Kurdistan with arrival in Hewler in 6:th August. After 10 days of work i took the road way to Amed.

My work in South Kurdistan has been completed now. The pilot projects has been successful and the different projects has been built and performed successfully. A plan for future work has been put ın work. A staff have been trained to complete the rest of the projects with the same great result. Plans has been conducted for the coming projects and orders for equipment has been made also. The projects are more than those mentioned here and discussions with international cooperation partners for the free radio station project has been successful also, amongst others.

So with these words the completion of Kurdishwaves for now...

News from Kurdistan

During the day i received these bad news from Kirkuk that you can read about in the newspapers.

And here in South Africa i am continuing the work and i also started the continuation of my diving education with a start dive today. It was excellent. More meetings has been held at Mesopotamia Kurdish restaurant in Cape Town, South Africa.

Kurdish South Africa

I arrived to Cape Town yesterday. On the way to the hotel I see something interesting, an amazing Kurdish restaurant in central Cape Town, Mesopotamia. Today I went there for a visit and met the two founders and saw this amazing restaurant that also is a Kurdish cultural museum with its furnishing and interior.

It has been here for 11 years and obviously played a big role in the understanding of Kurdish culture and awareness of Kurdistan. It was founded by two brothers from North Kurdistan, Mr Baran and Mr Sediq.

What was more interesting is that the mystery with the funny short movie “Kurdish or Turkish Olympic game” the “rock diving” that is world-famous on internet.

Search You Tube for "Diyarbakir Olimpiyatlari" and you will find the clip You can also visit the Mesopotamia web site through the link below.

Actually the guy who is talking in the movie is Mr Baran. The movie was made in Cape Town by Mr Sediq and his brother. They invented “rock diving” as an Olympic game because in Kurdistan there are no sea to dive in. The movie was made with FOX Television and got a gold award in Cannes. It took one month to finish and budget was one million dollar.

This is the link to the restaurant; actually they have also built up another Kurdish restaurant.

Mesopotamia Kurdish restaurant in Cape Town South Africa

Southafrica II

Today was the last day of the MILSET Science expo and the annual meetings. IT has been a fruitful time for science and technology for youth for Kurdistan.

I am now sitting at the closing ceremony so here is a view from Southafrica

Southafrica

Next destination was Southafrica where i am now. Kurdistan is going to be member in MILSET
(International Movement for Leisure Activities in Science and Technology) that has different counties as members(50 countries today). MILSET is arranging a Expo for scientists in Southafrica where Kurdistan is participating as Kurdistan.

This membership is a lead in the work for developing young peoples sense for science and technology through activities and education(not through school) in Kurdistan.

www.milset.org

It is unique to participate as Kurdistan since all other members are countries.

All participants

ICC convention hall in Durban where most of the work is taking place. The Expo started with welcoming and presentation of all the participants and a speech in their respective language. A culture of peace and understanding is obvious in MILSET.

Welcoming ceremony

At night

In morning

During day

Durban - A very modern town

This is an important step in the spread understanding for Kurdistan and multi ethnicity there. This also shows progress in the democratic work that has been performed in South Kurdistan. In soon future Kurdistan is participating with a team to present the result of the young scientists there. Our work with technology and scientific centers in Kurdistan is a part of this.

Sweden

Now i have been at some different places in Sweden, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Uppsala and Jönköping are those worth mentioning. I also visited ondon. Soon i will update some work from another part of the world.

London city

Sweden

Swedish nature. Not so bad

The work has been meetings planed since long time as a result of hard work in Kurdistan. If succesful this means even more work in Kurdistan and maybe some support.

"Vacation"

Since a time i am in Europe, partly vacation and partly work. This is the reason why there have not been any updates lately. There will soon be updates from most unexpected places however. In the meantime i will post old pictures if there is any time slot.

The endless landscape

This post is from when I traveled back to Hewler from Amedi after one weeks work with basic construction for preparation of the culture house in Amedi. A lot of furniture was purchased along with some necessities and material for electrical installations. All the other equipment will be delivered when all the other construction work, electric, phone for the radios, internet, all other installations and the furnishing are ready.

It was a long trip from Hewler to Amedi. The truck driver was not very familiar with the road. Usually you go to Duhok first and from there to Amedi, which can seem like a unnecessary long way. He thought he was smart when he thought he can go through Bardarash and make a great shortcut.

This pictures show what he did not know. First a trip through desert hot and dry area where the road was not finished. But later we went through the most beautiful nature , mountains and fruit agriculture. This meant a very long way through mountainous areas in low speed with low speed. It took more than five hours and several liters of water.

We did not see a person or a car during several hours in the mountainous ways. Suddenly we lost the way. When we wanted to ask somebody for the way and made a u-turn suddenly a Peshmerga came out from the forest. What a coincidence?

Turning onto this desert road from Shoresh north of Hewler.

At least some green fields...

And now some mountains..

Cultivation

The 4:th mountain chain at the back i Gara mountain. Amedi is behind that mountain. Saddam had a castle at top of Gara mountain and it can be seen at this picture on the highest spot.

Peach cultivation

The landscape from Sersink to Amedi.

Sulav with the water spring, waterfall and river. Or Silav as they seem to say here. Look there are donkeys under the leaves. The leaves are used as roofs on the outdoor cafées and picknick places. It smells good and stays cool.

Sulav with a part of Amedi in the background.

Amedi

Some electricity work

This houce is from the 7:th century and belonged to a famous author as i understanded it.

Amedi - Last travel

This is a short resume from my last visit in Amedi. A lot of heavy work was finished and soon the interesting work will begin. But still waiting for the Dubai orders that is not in my control any more.
The city Amedi itself as a town deserves an dedicated post that will come later. But for now here are some pictures. Again sorry for the delay in new post.

The work has begun...

Serseng to the left and beyond that is Duhok. Gara moountain can be seen to the left with Saddams old castle on the highest peak. It is now communication central for Korek telecom.



During the day you see this in the same direction. A well situated houce and the river from Silav waterfall in the valley. Very nice fruit trees as i have heard. Worth a visit in case of time.



Same picture as below during dark night.



The spotlight from some security thing lights up the foot of the Amedi raise. The lights to the left is a village.




The same place as above during daylight.





Sunset...




... another




Yet another

The park

The park II

Some young trouble makers.

The work goes on...

Long time

It was long time since my last post and i apologize for this dear visitors. I have had a lot of job and i was in Amedi for more than one week for some heavy work then back to Hewler for buying furniture and building material. When i have better internet connection i will upload the next post which will contain some nice picture of Amedi. Until then i hope you have understanding for the delay.

Also thank you for your comments and support.

New commando special forces

A picture from a special visit today.




The picture talks for it self, and say something special to those with historical knowledge.

Amedi

Today i traveled to Amedi and back to Hewler. As i took regular cab i lost a couple of kilos of weight in the heat. But From Duhok to Amedi i had some great company, two girls and a guy that were very interested in our project. We talked about that there is lack of activity for youth in Amedi. Many youth also move out from the city to Duhok and Hewler for work or for education.

This is one of the many churches in Hewler. This one is in Ankawa that is the christian district of Hewler. It is also one of the most nice areas with nice people. (Picture from the day before)






Amedi, the very special town on top of a big mountain hill. Since all space is occupied in the town it can not grow any more. This is also because of the lack of high buildings here.

An incredible nice park in Amedi.

Planning period

The day after the pictures on the mayor Abdul Rahman Belaf he left the hospital.

Regarding my work the equipment delivery seem to take longer time than expected unfortunately. Since the distributors in Dubai usually do not have all items in stock this can be the situation. However this leaves opportunities to develop the plans and work methods. Technical work can always be improved. The limit is mainly time and budget.

The plans for 2007 are huge and include many projects in different areas. However more on this when the plans have been put in practice. What we are doing in the meantime is to work on the basis to educate in computer and to find suitable premises and other requirements and good trainers and teachers.

For example I am investigating the market for new materials for building the studios. As until now they have been built by the classical way a with wooden frame and MAM(Mass Air Mass) principle. The materials could have better quality and special acoustic material is not even available. So this is the reason for searching new ways.

An example could by to build the walls with these materials, but they have their up and down sides. There are many factors that have to be considered in building a studio and in the construction work. This is not my area of profession since I am electronics engineers but in Kurdistan things work different. As said before you have to consider all aspects during the work for achieving the goal, a studio with right acoustics properties within the budget and time line.

Studios are fascinating because you can never get it perfect. It is always a balance between the factors that was mentioned. In our plans we have music studios also. However the radio stations usually have less requirements in acoustic properties. This since it does not require advanced mixing and mastering techniques and monitoring requirements.





More information will be provided later when the work has started.




We were in Ranye during the weekend to follow up some various works. One of them was a water well constructed for this dried out soccer field.

Hotel Chwar Chra or Texas?

Update - Ongoing democratic work after the Makhmur bomb

Update - Ongoing democratic work after the Makhmur bomb

We were recently at the hospital in Hewler to visit our dear friend Abdul Rahman Belaf. He was in great mood and eager about the work towards democracy. We admire him a lot.

Mayor Abdul Rahman Belaf and minister Taha Barwary, and in the background stands the authour Reidar Sabir.






"...fortunately the democratic process and work will not stop with this terrorist attack. And there are thousands of Abdul Rahman Belaf to replace the first Abdul Rahman [meaning himself]. Our work and democratic process will never stop."

A relative young guy who was wouded.

A badly wounded young guy. He also lost his brother.

This guy had got hit by splinter from the bomb in his stomache.


During the day there were two terrorist bomb attacks in Kirkuk also.

But the work goes on....