A photograph and its story

[raid]

I am originally from Iraq. After the USA dropped its bombs on Iraq the first time, I had my mother and father along with my sister and her two boys travel to Amman (Jordan) to meet with me. It was a time of sadness and shock. At that time, the US issued a travel warning for US citizens to that part of the world. I left my family for a few days in Amman, while I took a car to Petra, the desert ruin city. Unlike what you would find today in Petra, there wasn't a single tourist there, except me. It allowed me free roaming in the ruins. I met by chance a local Bedouin, Salem, who became my guide. He introduced me to other Petra Badool bedouins, who welcomed me warmly. An older man talked about WWII and the times after WWI. They offered me sweet tea [the sugar was in the tea], and we sipped tea under a tent while the old man smoked a cigarette, with the ash being inches long and threatening to fall down on the ground.

Salem was sipping tea ... and I captured this candid image of him.
His only wish from me was a pair of sneakers. I mailed a pair off to him later on.
I have added a second image.

I always think back of what Iraqis have been going through whenever I look at this image. It may not tell a story to many other people but it reminds me of the time when I met with my family under difficult circumstances. Both of my parents now have passed away during the wars, my brother is taking refuge in one country while his wife and daughters are in another country. My sister is takinga refuge in a third country with her two sons while her husband is still in Baghdad with his old mother.




Raid

 

[breeze]

Raid,

I appreciated your story and the photographs. I was at Amman and Petra two months before the invasion. In Petra, we stayed at the Movenpick overlooking the Rift Valley, which was hosting eight people in a hotel with 200 rooms, very few people at Petra itself, some Europeans, Australians, Canadians, that was it. If I have a minute, I'll scan a couple of the images tonight and post them tomorrow.

That tea is amazing.

 

[raid]

I went back to my old avatar. I missed it.

Raid

 

[nomade]

That is tornmenting Raid, such an inexplicable mess...

 

[micromontenegro]

After years of struggling, I was allowed to paid a visit to the Yanomami, who are considered by many the last surviving paleolithic people. One of the reasons I could go there was that I found a friend who was a friend of the eldest son of the chief of a shapono, and he would lead us there. After a trek that lasted several days in the jungle, we arrived among those extremely fierce, armed-to-the tooth Indians with a semicomatose chief’s son, down with a heavy malaria attack. On top of that, the principal warriors were having a yopo session, and were, hmmm, intoxicated. I thought that we would be killed in the spot, but then…

 

[raid]

What a great image! Tell us more about your trip.

 

[micromontenegro]

Thanks, Raid. To be honest, I had the time of my life. I went there to study the rules they use within their families, as a thesis for my master in Comparative Law. (You can tell I wanted to do something totally unlawyerlike ;-)
I am still amazed by the hard lives they lead, their inteligence, and the cultural abyss that separates us. In a nutshell, their families revolve around the fact that you, as a male, are expected to marry one (or more, if you are rich) of your motherly cousins. The daughters of your father's brothers and sisters, OTOH, are considered your brothers and sisters! Curiosly, most women prefer to share marriage (and the assosicted chores) with other wives.Your kid isn't considered born until the you and the mother decide he/she is worth it, and cut the umbilical cord. Befor that, you or your wife can choose to kill the offspring. Nonetheless, he/she will not have a proper name until he/she is about 9, and is then expected not to die as a child.
At the other end of life, all earthly possesions must be burned with the dead, so no memories remain to bring a tear of pain. The ashes of the body will be ritaully eaten by the kin, so the dead can live thru them. All in all, a most interesting people.
BTW, I always thought that one is the right avatar for you!

 

[Axel]

... There are also photos that just have funny stories...

Hi,

here is a little story from one of my recent photos. A few weeks ago I saw just a nice couple of signs, all in red, arranged to some nice red walls.
Ok - grabbed my M and got a few pictures.
Afterwards, when I saw the pictures I discovered that I had captured a total nonsens:

You see a former drive-through that is closed by a couple of concrete blocks on both sides of the way.
One block has a sign on it that warns for the block itself (left bottom). 😉
One other sign denies bring-in from this side (upper left). Another sign denies traffic for vehicles of all sorts
(right) and all the rest shouldn't be taller than 3m in height.😱😕:bang:



If now somebody gets the idea that this shows a typically german situation - I can't contradict 😀

Hope you enjoy.

Regards, Axel