From the Heart of Kurdistan Region - Kurdish Globe

TheKurdishGlobe No. 370, Tuesday, October 02, 2012 14The Kurdish GlobeNo. 370, Tuesday, October 02, 2012 15M emoirsSports newsErbil FC reaches AFCKaka elated with returnto national sideSazan M. MandalawiHow will it beto an ambitiouswoman withtoo manydreams?It has been a while, a verylong while. But here is a birdwith stronger wings flyingabove the clouds to a destinationcalled home. How great Ifeel as I am in the sky knowingin a matter of hours I willland in Erbil InternationalAirport. While typing onthe plane even the words onthe laptop screen seem to bedancing with happiness. Thejoy is not just in the idea ofthe return, but in the fact thatthis is a one way ticket journeyback home, which meansit is time to settle.The return is a secret; myfamily is not expecting mehome until another two weeks.I try to imagine my mother'sreaction as I enter our familyhome; I can already smell hertight hug. My mother does nothave a clue when she returnsfrom work this afternoon herHome Sweet Homedaughter will sit at the dinnertable tonight; my fatherhas no idea that his little birdwill also be among his otherbirds today as he waters hisplants in the garden. The littlebrother has no clue Big Sisteris back; the best friend has noidea she will get a surprise ather door tomorrow morning.And I smile as I remember itis my good friend Narin whoI will see first in Erbil; Homesweet home indeed.For those who followed theMemoirs column previously,you will remember that I leftKurdistan as part of the KRG'sHuman Capacity BuildingProgram for students to pursuepost graduate studiesabroad. As I departed I wroteof my emotions and thoughts,now exactly 363 days later Iwrite of my return.As I am returning home it isnot just of my happiness thatI am thinking, but the joy ofmany young Kurds who havejust submitted their final researchpapers and are flyinghome having completed theirMA degrees.I am thinking of the motherof my former colleague wholives in Ranya, who suffered alot in her life as she raised herchildren. I wonder if wordscan reflect her happiness asshe sees her son walking inthe front door knowing he hasmade a dream come true. Hersacrifices have paid off.I am thinking of the Kurdishman who not long agofought on mountain tops andfaced death for the sake ofthis nation. How will he feeland what will run through hismind as he sees his daughterreturn home having made herdream come true, a dream heprobably never dreamed of.If one of my friends readthis she would say that I am"talking to the birds again"and she would be right. Whoknows what the reality is like;how will it feel to be a petit,young female in a career paththat is dominated by males?How will it be to an ambitiouswoman with too many dreamsin a developing society? Howdifficult will it be to pursuethe dream job I often thinkabout in an environment thatdoes not always believe inthe capacity of young people?Many 'how' and 'what' questionsremain at the back of mymind, but only the Memoirsahead will show what it meansto be a 21st Century Kurdishgirl living in Kurdistan.Erbil’s graveyards not environmental-friendlyA number of Arab laborerswere digging anew grave and the childrenwere playing withthe mud unaware of thefact it would be used tocover the dead body oftheir grandmother. Shahida35, on the otherhand, was supervisingthe workers and bringingwater for them.Sheikh Ahmed Cemetery,the largest cemeteryin Erbil where a largenumber of Erbil residentshave family members’resting.People visit the cemeteryon Mondays andThursdays, in additionto the days before thereligious eids and anniversariesof their familymembers’ death.The cemetery is verysmall compared to thenumber of graves in itand is designed in a waythat very narrow space isleft between the graves,this means that peoplesometimes have to walkover the graves.Shahida was buryingher mother’s corpse whohad died four years ago.“She was buried in anothercemetery,” Shahidasaid sadly as she had rememberedthe day shelost her mother. “Hergrave was destroyed severaltimes by the familiesof the other gravesaround, and I had to moveher to this cemetery.”In addition to lackof sufficient place forburying people andeven walkways, SheikhAhmed Cemetery lacksbasic services such aschairs or even water forirrigating the trees andplants.Avin Qadir Hassan,director of Erbil’s thirdmunicipality, says that inthe old cemeteries peoplehave buried the corpsesin a disorganized wayand have not left a lot ofoptions for the municipalitiesto provide services.Couple hundred metersfrom Sheikh AhmedCemetery, there is another,more modern onecalled Sheikh Ahmed IICemetery, which is morerecently built and is betterdesigned and moreorganized.In the second SheikhAhmed Cemetery peoplecan buy spaces to buryThis photo depicts a gate of the Sheikh Ahmed Cemetery, Erbil, October 1, 2012.their family members,and enough space is leftfor walkways, plantinggreenery and other basicservices.Hassan told the Globethat they have allocatedIQD 1 billion to provideservices to the cemetery,as well as an amount tobe spent for the old cemetery.Additionally, Erbil Municipalityhas allocatedanother plot of land nearKasnazan, a town eastof Erbil, for a cemeterywhere people can burytheir family members’corpses free of chargebut in an organized way.A place like a cemeteryis not a place wherepeople can be happy,but if the same place ismixed with trees, natureand greenery, it wouldhelp ease the graves ofthe people in addition tohelping to keep the environmentclean.GLOBE PHOTO/Safin HamidIraqi champions Erbil wereable to secure a place atthe AFC Cup semi-finalsfor the second consecutiveyear after tying withKelantan 1-1 in the secondleg match of the quarterfinalson September 25. BecauseErbil won the first legmatch at home 5-1 with thesame team, the even resultin the away game helped itto secure a 6-2 aggregatetriumph against the Malaysianside.The second leg matchwas played at the SultanMohammad IV Stadium inattendance of 10,000 spectators.Although Kelantanplayed in front of its excitedfans, Erbil took the leadthrough Ugandan forwardSula Matovu in the 37thminute.In the second half thehosts put a lot of pressureon the guests, but Erbildefenders stayed firm andwere able to defuse all theattempts. Keeper Jalal Hassanplayed a significant rolein keeping his goal net unshakentill the last minuteof the match.The 90 minutes finished,but the hosts didn'tstop attacking. The homeside’s pressure was finallyrewarded when Lebanesestriker Muhammad Ghaddarconverted a penalty instoppage time but it wasa mere consolation for thehome fans as their team’smaiden AFC Cup campaigncame to an end.Although the equalizerdid help Kelantan to securea place at the semifinals,Ghaddar's celebration overscoring seemed to mean alot to him.In the semi-finals, Erbilwill face Thailand’s Chonburiwho secured a placeat the semifinals also afterdefeating Syria’s Al Shurta4-2 on September 26.For the fans that remainedbehind, there was someconsolation right at the endof the game. The equalizerensured that Kelantan endedtheir inaugural AFC Cupcampaign with an unbeatenhome record.Erbil coach Nizar Mahrousfelt that his decisionto rest four of his key playersfor the second leg oftheir AFC Cup quarter-finalagainst Kelantan was fullyjustified as the Iraqi championsplayed out a 1-1 drawto reach the semi-finals forthe second year in a row.Cup semifinalsErbil's forward Luay Salah is challenged by Malaysian Kelantan player during their AFC Cup quarterfinalmatch.Having trounced the MalaysianSuper League champions5-1 in the first leg inIraq last week, Mahrousopted to rest goalkeeperSarhang Muhsin, midfielderAmmar Abdulhussein andforwards Luay Salah andNabil Sabah for the returngame in Kelantan.“I am happy with theresult,” said Mahrous. “Ithought that the game wasvery entertaining and weplayed very well. I amalso pleased with the performanceof the playersbecause we decided to restfour of our key playersfrom the first leg but theteam still did well and wewere a bit unfortunate notto win the game right at theend,"Mahrous thinks that Kelantanalso played well andthey showed a very differentgame from the one thatthey played at Franso Hariristadium in Erbil.“It was certainly not aneasy game for us to play inKota Bharu especially withthe wet conditions on thepitch that resulted from theheavy rain in the eveningbefore game. But I thoughtthat we did well and we deservedto go through.” HenotedMeanwhile Kelantancoach Bojan Hodak attributedhis side's exit inthe Cup to the big loss hisplayers faced in the first legmatch."We were not able to goup to the next step, but weshowed a high performancelevel in the match. The fansreally enjoyed watchingevery minute of the game,"said Hodak.“We missed chances inboth halves but when webrought on Mohamad Gaddar,that changed the tempoand we began to create betteropportunities. It lookedlike it would not be our dayto score but we kept tryingand finally we got a penaltyand scored a goal right atthe end,"The AFC Cup campaignis over for Kelantan butHodak and his players stillhave games to play beforethe season ends.Erbil’s AFC Cup adventureended last year in thesemifinals after they lost ahome match 2-0 to Kuwaitand tied the return 3-3, aresult which was not goodenough to take them to theAFC final.Zakaria MuhammedErbilzakaria.kurdishglobe@gmail.comGLOBE PHOTO/Safin HamidReal Madrid forward Kaka has admittedthat he was surprised to be handed acall-up to the Brazil squad after a disappointingstart to the season at a domesticlevel.Kaka has not featured for Brazil in twoyears, but his return is a timely one withless than two years to go until the WorldCup in his home country."I admit it was a surprise this call. Ifollowed the disclosure of the list forTV, mainly because I'd been told thatmy name might be one of those listed.When the list was published, I was extremelyhappy. It was like my first callup."he said.Lionel Messi wins ‘Onze d’Or’Barcelona star Lionel Messi has wonthe Onze d'Or for the third consecutiveyear, according to AS.com.The Argentine international wasawarded the trophy by French footballmagazine 'OnzeMondial'. The magazinecollects readers' votes to choose a winnerof their annual prestigious award,and for the third time in as many years,Lionel Messi came out on top.The 25-year-old won 47.45% of thevote, while Cristiano Ronaldo finishedsecond with 27.95%. The Madrid andBarca duo dominated the voting, andAtletico Madrid striker RadamelFalcaofinished third with 6.1%.Lewis Hamilton signswith MercedesLewis Hamilton is moving to Mercedes,replacing seven-time FormulaOne champion Michael Schumacher ina major shakeup that also saw SergioPerez sign with McLaren.The deal, which had been rumored forweeks, was confirmed by Mercedes onFriday shortly after McLaren announcedits signing of Perez."It is now time for me to take on afresh challenge and I am very excited tobegin a new chapter," Hamilton said.Abidal could returnin NovemberBarcelona star Xavi indicated that theFrance international could return to theside by the end of the autumn."He's amazing. An example," he toldSport, "Not only is he a great professional,he is in the gym every day,morning and evening. I'm not going tosay it will for sure be in November, butit's true that it will be between Novemberand December." Xavi said.