During the Iran-Iraq war, I worked for two and a half years in a big French construction company for the project of 4,000 units military housing construction in Mosul, Iraq. Our employment main terms were free foods, accommodations, plane tickets, regular monthly salaries with overtime pay, one month yearly vacation, workers' camps medical clinics with doctors, nurses and medicines.
During the war, the Iraqi military officers and soldiers had the priorities on food supplies. During our first two-month days, there were shortages of foods in our workers' residential camps which were made of portable two-room separated housing, each with airconditioning unit, toilet and bath room. Sometimes we ate rice soups with eggs. The workers, who were not used to family hardship lives, were having tears from their eyes while eating and they decided to resign and go back to their origin country. I was not affected by that kind of hardship because I grown up in a poor family. After two months, the company was able to solve the food problem by importing from other countries.
Big fishes were abundant in the river. Some of the Filipino workers who came back from vacation brought fish nets and enjoying catching fishes after working hours. There were many big wild dogs in the mountains which were threat to the lives of the workers. One French supervisor made hunting dog as his sport on rest days, inviting workers under his supervision to catch dog. The workers were enjoying this kind of sport because some of them were cooking the dog and having party eating it while drinking wine at night.
The residential camp of the French and other European nationals were located separately with the residential camp of the Asian nationals. Some of the French daughters were being courted by Filipinos for being known as good lovers. Courtship between Iraqi women and Filipino workers was also occurring.
On our rest days, we went to different biblical places and had seen the ruins of the king's kingdom in Nineveh and Nimrod. There were large statues of warriors (in the form like the knights of King Arthur) and a queen made of marbles and stones, partly destroyed. There was a Filipino worker who posed holding the breast of the woman statue for a photo but was scolded by the Iraqi guard. We also had seen the tomb of Sarah and the Tower of Babel. There were many biblical memorable things and places which were destroyed due to wars. Invasions and wars were the legacies of the kings of Babylon in the biblical ancient era. Iraq should have been a very good spot for tourism.
There are two long and huge rivers flowing across Iraq. The Tigris river flowing from Turkey to the juncture with Euphrates river, also flowing from Turkey through Syria and Iraq into the Persian Gulf. Agriculture is good in Iraq due to the natural flow of rivers for irrigation. The country also have large volume of oil deposits. Rich but too much funds were placed to arsenal armory for war. If their agricultural land and oil deposits are fully developed for production, Iraq is a very rich country.
We mingled and met some Iraqi and Kurdis people. There were Christian churches for being allowed. During the years of our employment, Christians and Muslims had good relationship alike. We considered them as good people by the way they treated us. We met some poor family members, recuperated soldiers with amputated legs and arms due to the war. We ate and drank tea with them in their homes which were made of mud or clay. There were days that many soldiers in trucks and tanks on their way to the border with Iran due to their unresolved disputes. Farmers had guns while working in the fields. We were invited in their grape farms and gave us some grape fruits to take home.
Source : ezinearticles
No comments:
Post a Comment