It looks I will never finish writing about the achievements of our great government. Excuse me dear readers but I think I have the right to feel proud that we have such great government supported by the great administration of Great Bush. Well, let me go directly to the point. I just would like to tell you that this is the 7th day that we don’t have water in our neighborhood. Yes, we don’t have water and we have to use the water pumps to get water and if any house could get it by the pump, the other houses would never be able to have because it looks that Baghdad municipality cants pump enough quantity of water to fill the pipes. I think because the municipality is really busy with other projects which are more important than providing water like painting the pavement. Hey did I tell you that we are the country number 1 in painting the pavements. Baghdad municipality paints the pavements almost every season. I don’t know why and I think only Allah knows why but I know that the contractors who do this job earns millions of dollars in this work although it is worthless. Anyway, back to water shortage. My family is one of the lucky families who earn enough to use our electric generator any time we want and seriously I thank Allah for that gift. The first machine work in the house when I turn on the generator is the water pump. Yesterday, almost all our neighbors came to our house asking for water. We kept our water pump working for hours and we couldn’t do anything but providing people with water until 11 pm. I could see happiness and Thanks Allah, my family gained many nice prayers from our neighbors who were really thankful.
I don’t know what to say but I just want to know what the word government means. Does it only mean to have hundreds of guards and to steal money or it means to travel here and there claiming that you work hard for your people or it means to send the young men to die in an aimless war?
I live in Baghdad too; the water problem is touching every human been in the city, one of many other symptoms of paralyzed life.
I have to mention that when using the pump directly on the pipes, the water will be mixed with dirty sewage because of the cracks in these old pipes, so please be aware of this serious effect on health.
Um Noor
Posted by: Aseel | August 02, 2007 at 04:27 AM
Just wanted to let you know that I your blog inspired me to write a poem and it is linked back to this blog. You can read it at: http://gehmflor.blogspot.com/2007/05/just-go-on-living.html But it really does not come close to capturing the reality! Thank you for sharing!
Posted by: Heather Ann | May 07, 2007 at 03:26 PM
Thank Allah for that generator at your house, Laith. I'm so glad you still have your sense of humor. That bit of news about painting the pavement made me laugh out loud. When I was in Armenia in 1992, we had the same problem with water not running without the electricity being on and we always had to keep buckets filled with water for this and that. Electricity always ran for 2 hours a day, so I can't imagine going 7 days without water. It doesn't seem you have a government now. You have something that resembles anarchy. Here they call it a civil war over there. Whatever you call it, be safe with your family and thanks for being such a good neighbor to all those around you with the water. For them you are an angel!
Posted by: ljm | April 14, 2007 at 11:16 PM
With Bush/Cheney/Rice/Wolfowitz/Feith/Blair/and other ne'er-do-wells holding the dictionary, the only definitions we'll ever get will be corrupted ones. Your entry made me think of this passage from Italo Calvino's book Invisible Cities (the following is a quote):
He said: "It is all useless, if the last landing place can only be the infernal city, and it is there, in ever-narrowing circles, the current is drawing us."
And Polo said: "The inferno of the living is not something that will be; if there is one, it is what is already here, the inferno we live everyday, that we form by being together. The first is easy for many: to accept the inferno and become such a part of it that you no longer see it. The second is risky and demands constant vigilance and apprehension: seek and learn to recognize who and what, in the midst of the inferno, are not inferno, then make them endure, give them space.
May you and your family and your country endure Laith, for I know surely, that you are not of the inferno.
Laura
Posted by: Laura | April 14, 2007 at 02:52 PM
With Bush/Cheney/Rice/Wolfowitz/Feith/Blair/and other ne'er-do-wells holding the dictionary, the only definitions we'll ever get will be corrupted ones. Your entry made me think of this passage from Italo Calvino's book Invisible Cities (the following is a quote):
He said: "It is all useless, if the last landing place can only be the infernal city, and it is there, in ever-narrowing circles, the current is drawing us."
And Polo said: "The inferno of the living is not something that will be; if there is one, it is what is already here, the inferno we live everyday, that we form by being together. The first is easy for many: to accept the inferno and become such a part of it that you no longer see it. The second is risky and demands constant vigilance and apprehension: seek and learn to recognize who and what, in the midst of the inferno, are not inferno, then make them endure, give them space.
May you and your family and your country endure Laith, for I know surely, that you are not of the inferno.
Laura
Posted by: Laura | April 14, 2007 at 02:52 PM