It was cold when we landed, I was confused and apprehensive. My dad, uncle and aunt were the ‘welcome party’ on the other side. Over half a year later, we all boarded a plane for the very first time, finally going to London. The invention of the brick Nokia mobile phone allowed us to communicate with my dad in London. My days were spent playing football in the streets and we were soon joined by my cousins who were on the same journey. I didn’t attend reception at the time but became friends with the locals near our apartments. The first few weeks my brother and I slept on a make shift bed made from plastic crates that held fruit and vegetables with a mattress shoved on top. We were renting an unfurnished apartment and money was low as we waited for money transfers from my dad who was in the UK. I was amazed at the possibility of a moving staircase.
Google them and you will recognise both of these Middle Eastern delicacies.Ī cherished memory during this time are the escalators that Hussain and myself would spend hours on in a Safeway megastore they had in Amman. Little did I know, but that would be my last journey in Iraq as the car crossed the border into neighbouring Jordan, Amman.Īmman was a haven for Iraqis and the easiest exit path into the ‘promise land’ of Europe. You could describe it as a kidnapping, only that my mum was the kidnapper. On one thick, desert night I was smuggled into an orange and white Cadillac. My brother, Hussain was born, but sadly my father missed this. Any concerns raised by Saddam’s police would result in horrific consequences. My dad left first with my aunt and uncle before us, but this was done all under secret. My dad was worried about the sate of the country and questioned the future of their children. In the background my parents were planning on leaving Iraq. Middle Eastern families are big and they like to talk.
#TOOTHFAIRY ONLINE WINDOWS#
It was only when I got older that I realised this game was to stop me looking through the car windows at the flashlights going off. I remember thinking that this game was boring. Not many people remember things when they were four but I will never forget the air raids going off and my family frantically rushing into the cars as we fled to the outskirts of Baghdad.
I was a fat little child running round in my dishdasha (a loose, long-sleeved garment worn in middle-eastern countries) naïve and loving life.Īt the age of four ‘Operation Desert Fox’ had commenced and the ongoing feud between Saddam and the west was escalating. Hassan Asad looks back at his journey from growing up in pre-war Iraq to launching the Deciduous Facebook group during the current COVID-19 pandemic.
0 kommentar(er)
