A voice from Iraq

Most Americans have a badly distorted image of the Iraqi people; an image of dirty, helpless, and angry mobs of people in the streets. But believe it or not, that image only displays a small portion of the Iraqi people, and one young blogger straight from Iraq wants to make sure her country is not represented by the wrong people. Sunshine is a 14 year-old girl who is fluent in English and familiar with the American culture. One of her latest posts really caught my attention, and I'm sure it will hold yours as well:

Against the world Media

The thing that bothers me so much is the media, all of the media; American, Iraqi, Arabian... they DO NOT show the real life in Iraq, especially the citizens real state of affairs, they always show an old woman with Abaya, a dirty child, or an old man wearing a ripped dress (Dishdasha) & slipper. These people represent the Iraqis! Don't you see that often?! Even when there is a questionnaire, the media does not ask a doctor, nor an engineer, teacher or any educated citizen, they do not go to a university or a hospital. They go to indigent neighborhoods & ask a cadger or a sloven woman & make the people round the world believe that we are all like that; it is unfair, why does the media do that?!

I think they do that for certain purposes, maybe to make the other people feel sorry for us. I got many E-mails saying that they had been shocked when they saw my sister & my brother's photographs. Well it is not weird at all; all the children in my family and in other families look beautiful, clean, & healthy. A few months ago I got an E-mail from a reader, and he said that he was surprised when he saw the number of the Iraqi bloggers who write in English. So many people in Iraq speak English (it's the second language here, we start taking English lessons in the 5th class primary school), I take private French lessons every Friday as well. I would like to learn other languages in the future. This bad image that most of the people have for the Iraqis, related to the untruthful media, I wish I can start my own media...

A few weeks ago I was reading some articles about Iraq, and they contained some pictures of Iraqi children who were dirty. I do not think that they ever had a shower, they were wearing ripped clothes, and shoeless. I got so mad; the people who might read this article would think that ALL THE CHILDREN IN IRAQ LOOK LIKE THAT.

I can part the Iraqi citizens into 2 divisions:

1- The people in villages: Most of the people in the Iraqi Arab villages are negligent to cleanness, and slovens ( like what we see in the Media), but there are villages like: Al- Kosh , Bartila , Talkeef , Karakoosh , Bahzany , Bahsheeka , Karamles etc , most of their citizens are Christian, they are nice, with medium education. Most of the people in Kurdish villages are amazingly beautiful, well-dressed, and live in a sanitary nature.

2- The people in cities: The majority of the people are nice looking & educated, but there might be some, more horrible than the people in the villages! You see I don't generalize, you can see different varieties of people in my country, educated or not, good or bad, sparkling clean or dirty. I think now you have a better image, & I want to improve it with some pictures of my house. My house is clean, organized, & it is nice for an average Iraqi.

- Sunshine has really gained my respect as she fights to become a voice for her country; even as the major news media works to dishearten her people and the American people. This display of passion and vision is not unique in Iraq; yes, Iraq is a young nation, and in need of our support. But as long as we provide them with the resources and security they need, I know that their children of today will rise up to become great leaders of tomorrow.

May God bless Iraq!