“The Difficulties of my Life” by Zhian Hakari

When personal misfortunes are combined with a country′s crises, does this lead to the person′s destruction or success? Traumatic events may break you or give you the hope to continue. This is my story with life. Now I′m living in Germany, but my journey to come here was not easy. Living in Iraq was hard not only because of ISIS but also because of the awful circumstances in my country for a very long time. Losing my father was also another incident that has depressed me for years, but it was, at the same time, the main reason for my success. My name is Zhian Hakari and I′m 27 years. I′m married and I live with my husband in Hannover. In my country, I was an English teacher in a primary school for two years. Now I′m studying English master at Hannover University which was a great dream for me to study English master in Europe.

Everybody in high school looks forward to graduation day. I was looking forward to graduation myself, but unfortunately, while I was in fourth grade I lost the most important person in my life. I lost my father who was not only a father for me but a friend and a teacher. My father taught me the most important things in life. He was and will stay in my heart forever. After the death of my father, I was in a difficult psychological state. I was not able to enter the class and see another teacher teaching instead of my father. So I left school for one year. I understood that despite all the pain and suffering that I encountered in that period in my life I would never give up. I had to continue my study to get a proper job and a good position in society. I was the oldest one among my brothers and sisters, so I took the responsibility of taking care of my family especially that my mother was in a very bad condition after my father′s death. In my life, I faced a lot of problems, but I never lost hope. Life is beautiful and deserves to be lived. After I graduated from high school I went to study at Mosul university in Mosul city. I chose an English study because I wanted to learn new languages and English was the popular one. There was also a lack of English teachers so it was a good opportunity to get a job as a teacher after graduation. Moreover, I had an intent to travel outside of Iraq, especially to an English-speaking country.

Learning new languages was something interesting for me. I learned Arabic as a second language in high school and I decided to study English as a third language. English was not easy for me like Arabic, because most of the people in Iraq speak Arabic and one has the opportunity to use it and practice it while very little people in Iraq can speak English. Even if they can speak English they rarely do. The only place that one could practice a little bit of English was at the University. The students in my class did not speak English with each other, instead they spoke Arabic. They spoke English only in the lectures which I found to be a big mistake with learning new languages, especially if it will be one′s profession.

During the regime of Saddam Hussain, people in Iraq were prevented from having contact with the outside world. There was not even internet services and mobile phones. Saddam was very strict with anyone who did not obey his rules. His authority was dictatorial and not fair. In 2003 after the fall of Saddam Hussain′s regime, the security situations became so corrupt and lasted for years. There were a lot of explosions in every city in Iraq, especially Baghdad. Thousands of innocent people and children were killed without guilt. Numerous of robbers and criminal groups were scattered around the city. The regime that followed Saddam′s was not better than his. The new government was stealing, exploiting, and destroying people in Iraq. Most of the people were thinking of an opportunity to migrate outside of Iraq. While I was studying at the University I thought of traveling to the United States or Britain because they are advanced countries, peaceful and people there speak English.

Living conditions in my home country were problematic and everyone was looking for a proper job to earn money to provide a good living for themselves and their families. There were few English teachers so I thought that if I studied English I will be able to get a job as an English teacher. My father was dead and my mother was obligated to take care of my handicap sister. So, I was the only one who could help the family, especially that my siblings were very young. The government did not offer work opportunities equally to people. If someone had good relations and interests with a politician could get a good job easily while poor people stayed unemployed. Many young boys left their studies because they knew that even if they had graduated they would not get a job.

In 2014 a group of criminal people came to the scene in Iraq. They called themselves ISIS. They controlled many cities in Iraq and their center was Mosul city. On August 3 attacked a big town called Shingal. Most of the people who were living in Shingal were Yazidi. Yazidi people were poor and depended on farming as the main income for living. When Isis attacked those people they killed all the men they found and kidnapped women and children. Girls who were nine and ten years were raped by those criminals. Mothers lost their sons and husbands just because they were Yazidi. I remember that a woman who escaped from ISIS said that they killed her two children and made her eat their flesh without knowing that the flesh was her children. There are a lot of Yazidi women still captured by ISIS and they are bought and sold as slaves. All that brutal treatment just because of the difference in religion. Therefore, a great number of Yazidi people who survived were thinking of migrating outside their country where they did not find any politician or anyone who has the authority to defend them.

Sometimes hard circumstances are the motives that trigger you to improve yourself and to be successful. Losing a family member is very hard, but at the same time, it strengthens you and makes you comprehend that it is the nature of life. Living in a country that is controlled by immoral politicians forbids citizens from their basic rights in life so the idea of traveling outside the country becomes a dream. Struggling to find a job is something painful for many graduated young people who are applying for jobs for years without success. Many people suffer the most injustice and slavery due to the failed government policy.