Interview with B.

Interview with B (Iraqi Christian widow—husband was an Iraqi-Canadian, daughter Rita, sister of S.J. whom I've also interviewed and whose transcript is posted)
Interviewer Laura Hamblin East Amman 9/21/07

L.H.: Tell me about your experience in Iraq.
B: Every bad thing I have experienced, I have experienced in Iraq. When my husband was killed in Iraq, we –my daughter and I—suffered a lot. My husband was an Iraqi-Canadian. He was originally from Iraq, but he had Canadian citizenship. He had his own business in Iraq—his own company. Once he called me from his company, this was two years ago [2005] he called and said he would be home in half an hour. A few minutes later security called me to say that he was killed with his colleague in their car. It was a small distance between his company, and where he was killed in the car, so I went and found the police. Eight days later, after his death, while we were having the grieving ceremony, four strange people came and told us to end the ceremony or they would kill us all—explode the whole gathering. Then I called my husband’s sister (who is also Canadian), and told her about our difficult situation, because the attackers also threatened to kidnap my daughter.

L.H.: Do you know who these people were?
B: They were from a group who said they support the Sunni people of Iraq. This is all I knew about them—according to the investigations conducted by the police.

L.H.: Do you know why they would want your husband dead?
B: The colleague of my husband’s was truly a Canadian—originally from Canada, and those people [who killed them] thought that my husband and his colleague were working for Americans—that’s why they attacked them and killed them.

L.H.: What kind of business did your husband have?
B: It had to do with oil transportation—oil export and import. After this event they stole the car from me, and they [the attackers] took the building and occupied the company’s building, and they occupied it and took it for their own. So we consulted my husband’s family in Canada, and they offered for us to go to the Green Zone where there is a Canadian commercial secretary, Ben Roswell, who offered help for us and let us to stay in the Green Zone for our safety for that period. This was only eight days from my husband’s death. So we stayed in the Green Zone for six months at the Canadian Embassy. After that, for six months, there was an agreement between the Canadian government and the Austrian government, so they accepted us to live in Austria for six months only. After that we had to transfer to Canada. But after six months of living in Austria, no one could help us to get into Canada, so we had to come back to Amman. That is why we are here.

L.H.: Even though you had dual citizenship because you married a Canadian?
B: Only my daughter got Canadian citizenship and a passport. He couldn’t get that for me.

L.H.: How long have you been here?
B: Two years, after being in Austria for six months. So I applied to UNHCR for help to go to Canada, and they agreed to help because my daughter is Canadian. So they told me they cannot force me to go back to Iraq because my child is Canadian, so they said they would help us to go to Canada.

L.H.: So what is the time frame you are looking at to go to Canada?
B: The Canadian Embassy asked me for two documents—one that shows that I had not been accused of any criminal acts before—that I had good conduct. The second document would show that I dealt well with people, that I didn’t make any trouble—that I was a good citizen. But I was unable to produce these documents. Since I am in Jordan for two years without legal residency, it was difficult to get these documents. So the UNHCR contacted the Canadian Embassy again, telling them it is so difficult for me to get these documents. So they said they might facilitate my application without the documents.

L.H.: Would you have to go back to Baghdad to get the documents?
B: No, these documents would have to be issued fro the Jordanian government, because she has been here for two years.

L.H.: Why is it difficult to get those documents?
B: Because I am not a legal resident in Jordan. According to my understanding no other embassy but the Canadian Embassy asks for this type of document. I have suffered a lot from the Canadian Embassy and their rules. I have suffered from then until now. Even when I asked the Commercial Secretary of Canada why they couldn’t offer a visa with I couldn’t get a visa with my daughter, he said, “no I deal with business visas not government visas.” Even the cost of the trip from Baghdad to Amman, and from Amman to Austria, and from Austria to Amman—we had to pay for all of the costs. Nobody supported us. We paid $3,500 US dollars for the trip. They took a loan from my sister-in-law, through a Canadian bank, but she had to surrender her passport for the loan.

L.H.: So are you working now?
B: Yes, I am doing housekeeping work; I prepare everything in the house. When I was here in Jordan two years ago, I went to the Canadian Embassy asking if they could offer any salary for my daughter. They [the embassy] said no they could not offer such a thing, unless the person were inside Canada. They cannot offer anything to a Canadian person who is outside Canada.

L.H.: What does your daughter do while you are working? Do you bring your daughter with you?
B: I’d take her to my sister’s while I worked, or she used to go to school while I worked. If everything were ok, she’d be in fifth grade, but she is now in the third grade because she lost two years due to the situation [prior to 2007, the laws in Jordan did not permit the children of Iraqi refugees to go to school].

L.H.: Where do you see yourself in five years?
B: Canada. They promised me to get there. I am now waiting for a medical test and a visa.

L.H.: How long will you have to wait?
B: I called UNHCR a few days ago, and they asked me to prolong the validity days of my passport because it’s now expired. They asked me to be ready anytime.

L.H.: Do you have relatives in Canada that you’ll be with?
B: The brother and sister of my husband are living there and the sister is so helpful. She has helped us a lot. She will be very glad to receive us in Canada.

L.H.: Could you tell me about some of the difficulties of being a widow?
B: I have a lot of problems, especially in having my daughter go to school, because I am the only provider in the family. No one is helping us financially. CARATAS offered to pay for Iraqi children in Jordan, but they won’t pay for my daughter—because she is Canadian! A previous employee at CARATAS said “We cannot do anything for her because she is Canadian. If she were Iraqi we could do a lot for her.”

L.H.: Do you have hope? And if so, where does that source of hope come from?
B: I only believe in God—he is my only hope in this life. There is priest nearby in the local church who used to support us. He paid for the first payment for the school for this year.

L.H.: Tell me what Iraq was like when you were a little girl.
B: It was so good and I hope everything can be like it was when I was a little girl. I would like to go back to I if everything would settle down and be clear.

L.H.: What would have to happen in order for things to be stable in Iraq?
B: According to the situation now in Iraq, only a miracle could help. But it so difficult for the situation to settle down; I don’t think it will happen in the near future.

L.H.: Do you thing things would improve if the Americans were to leave?
B: No, no it will get worse. It is a social war now—it is a civil war between the Iraqis themselves. If the Americans leave, it will get worse. It is impossible. There will be massive destruction in Iraq if Americans were to leave—mass destruction. I used to call my sister who is still in Iraq, and my sister told me, now we don’t feel secure when the Iraqi police pass by unless they are accompanied by Americans because the I police are not so good.

L.H.: How is your sister in Iraq?
B: Throughout the previous nine months we lost contact and I don’t know anything about her. She may have left Iraq.

L.H.: Are your parents alive.
B: My mother passed away five years ago, and my father was with my sister in Iraq, the one we lost contact with.

L.H.: What makes you laugh?
B: Here in Jordan? . . . There are some nice things here in Jordan. We used to go to church. Praying was some source of pleasure. I used to have terrible depression and although I have two sisters near by, I used to stay in my house until four months ago. I used to go from my house to work, and back from my work back to my house. It was a fixed routine. I only used to talk to my sisters by phone, although they are living near by. I was one of the first of the people who were accepted by UNHCR. Many people were accepted after me, and now they are resettled outside. That adds a lot to my depression.

L.H.: Is there something else you would like the west to be aware that we haven’t asked you?
B: No. Is it likely that the American media didn’t show the American people about what is going on in Iraq?

L.H.: I think that the media has not shown much about Iraqi refugees. A lot of people in the West are not aware of what a big problem the refugees are suffering right now.
B: An American journalist who was of Iraqi roots, she used to work for Iraqi Broadcast Corporation, and she is now an American journalist. CARATAS brought her here and did an interview with me. There is another American journal called Mother Jones six months ago.

L.H.: Did you see the final published article?
B: No, they promised to bring me the article but they haven’t. They also promised not to publish a picture of my face.

L.H.: Why don’t you want your face published?
B: It is a social traditional. I don’t want to offend my husband’s family—they don’t like to show a woman in public. And I’m concerned that my husband’s mother will think I am using his death to show up in magazines.