I was fortunate enough to spend a day with the Young Leader delegation from Iraq, a group of 18 Iraqi high school students who were hosted by the Citizen Diplomacy Council of San Diego, a non-profit organization that encourages international understanding by hosting delegations to meet with their American professional counterparts. These Young Leaders were chosen by the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, based on their interest in leadership, written essays, and English language skills. They met with American professional leaders in government, private enterprise, and non-profit groups to learn about leadership.
As I walked into the office, I did not see Arab boys garbed in dishdashas or women clad in burqas or niqabs. I saw teenagers with slightly darker skin than I have with jeans, t-shirts, tank tops, Converse shoes, and other stamps of American culture that have proliferated around the world. I was greeted with a “What’s up? Have a seat!” I introduced myself to all of the Young Leaders.
I sat next to a girl from Basrah, in southern Iraq. This was her first trip outside of Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. I began to pose preliminary questions to her: how did you find out about the program? Do you study in a public or private school? Her command of English astounded me. She spoke with purpose and precision. I also found out that she was a Christian. “What?” I exclaimed, “There are Christians in Iraq?” “Yes,” she replied calmly, as if nothing in the world could make more sense than having Christians in Iraq.
Somehow the Embassy of Baghdad had included every demographic in the delegation; there was also a Chaldean Christian. Christians are part of the demographic that makes up less than 3% of the Iraqi religious demographic. Chaldean Christians hold services in Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke. Islam is the obvious predominant religion with Shia making up the other 60 – 65% and Sunni making up 32 – 37%.
Our first meeting was with the San Diego Chief of Police, followed by the Girl Scouts, and a trip to the Media Arts Center, so the Iraqi students could finish compiling their photos and videos for a miniature documentary on leadership.
The stay in San Diego would be incomplete without a trip to that local sports team: the San Diego Padres. On our way from the Media Arts Center to Petco Park, I sat next to a girl from Baghdad. I asked her about her life and how it has been affected by the war. She told me about her experience in 2003, remembering how her entire family – an Arab extended family including cousins, aunts, uncles – huddled in her family’s’ bomb proof basement. She was in the 5th grade. She vividly remembers the first few days after the U.S. military arrived. School was canceled. Friends were lost. Families fled. Relatives were killed. I apologized on behalf of the United States – as if it mattered – for bombing her city.
She explained that when Sadam Hussein was in power people knew there were bad things happening; they just didn’t see them happen. Now, people know terrible things happen because everything unfolds in front of them – shootings, kidnappings, harassment, and car bombings. This girl from Baghdad told me it was a horrible situation for children to have to live through. If one word were to define her life in Baghdad, it seemed to me as if “uncertainty” epitomized her day to day schedule.
David Hines
-Three time participant in PTPI’s Global Youth Forums
-Delegate on PTPI’s 2009 GYFHC to Costa Rica
-Recipient of the 2010 Mary Jean Eisenhower Partner in Peace Scholarship
