Cynthia Banas
Voices in The Wilderness

Because of the hot weather, I enjoy the luxury of sleeping on the roof. With this comes also the joy of seeing the sun rise over this Occupied City. This morning the sunrise was exceptionally beautiful. After taking several shots on my “throw-away” camera, I started to observe some of the other early morning happenings here in Baghdad. Directly across the street is the cracked foundation of a building which perhaps was razed deliberately or bombed. Whatever, the empty lot now serves as a dump.

I noticed our neighbor picking through the garbage. She returned with several small bags of garbage to her home. Next a teen-ager walked away with what looked like a discarded pair of sneakers. Some folks walking along on the sidewalk, stopped and hopped over the foundation wall and picked up a couple of empty boxes. One gentleman was rewarded with a wooden box. Boxes seemed to be the coveted item or perhaps not much else was salvageable. Some people openly rummaged through the dump.. Others were more discreet.

On Karrada Street, the main thoroughfare we can see from our rooftop, and which is only a few yards from our house, the street median divider is being repainted in bright yellow and white. Also I observed a big yellow garbage truck parked across the street. In a few minutes several young men appeared and the pick up of garbage and trash left on the curb in front of places of business began. I could no! t but cynically wonder if Waste Management, an American company well known for its corruption, now has the monopoly on garbage pick-up in Iraq.

On the wall in our office is a quote from Gandhi; “It has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honoured by the humiliation of their fellow human beings.”

Salaam

Cynthia Banas, Voices in the Wilderness Team, Baghdad