I've spent the last few days in the mountainous areas of Kurdistan near the Iranian border. The landscape was often spectacular, and the pictures below are of a village called Kani Spi. The village though was destroyed some years ago during conflict, and the area is still shelled regularly by Iran to prevent the villagers from being able to return. This happens every sowing and harvesting time, specifically so that crops cannot be planted or produced.
Perhaps even more devastating is the fact that almost all of the village land is heavily land-mined and this has resulted in many injuries and deaths. Three of the family have been killed and Mahmood has lost a leg to land mines and yet the family insists on persevering with returning and have rebuilt two village houses. We spent the night there with Mahmood and some of his family, and it was a beautiful, moving and sad experience.
 |
| The mountains, streams and fields around Kani Spi |
 |
| One of the few fields that has been de-mined in Kani Spi |
 |
| The markers indicating mined fields |
 |
Mahmood telling us his story
|
 |
| An amazing evening inside the simple home, where we were given warmth and gracious hospitality from the chill and howling wind. |
No comments:
Post a Comment