On Prejudice

Last night, I learned that one of the local Iraqi health professionals who works with the medical teams during Remedy Missions was recently killed in a terrorist attack. I learned that this Iraqi health professional was killed for his faith. I don't know what he believed, what the problem was with his belief or how this all happened.

All I know is that he was killed because of it.

Recent headlines of the killings in Iraq

Dr. King wrote about this from a racial prospective, but this
can definitely apply to religious tensions here.

This was upsetting to learn. It made me step back and think about some of the religious tensions in this country. Recently, there have been a growing number of killings in specific parts of Iraq. The problems here are intricate, but I can say that some of these killings do result from differences of thought. To have different ideas, and freely support or express them here is limited in many ways.

This is unfortunate because this is a country that is desperately in need of peace. From a healthcare lens, the lack of peace has greatly contributed to the low quality of care in parts of this nation. 

These are real people saving real lives. And to think that this man, who was dedicating a part of his career to saving lives, was killed is disturbing. 

I've been doing a lot of research lately, and I've learned that many health professionals fled the country during the war. Others were killed or kidnapped. Now, that the wars have ended, I'm hopeful that the numbers of health professionals will grow, but the truth is, despite numbers growing, health professionals, not only their patients, will have to face the current tensions in this area.

Some of the tensions include the following:

• Arab Iraqis vs. Kurdish Iraqis
• Syrians vs
• Shiite Muslims vs. Sunni Muslims 
• Syrian supporters vs. non-Syrian supporters
• And I'm sure there's so much more.  

I remember reading about this over the summer, but I put it in the back of my mind as I had to focus on some other areas for school and work. It's sad to go from reading about it, and then learning about it in this environment.  

Within a week of being here, there was bombing in Erbil, which was the the first bombing since the last six years in the north. Over 40 people died, and it was said to have been caused by Syrians.

Yes, prejudice plays a major role here, and its taking things to an unnecessary level: death. 

Despite your experience with this word, prejudice, it's important to realize that it could hold more weight for those who have closely felt the burdens of such thoughts. There's a lot to be said here, but honestly, after learning of this situation, I was left a bit speechless.

My supervisor posted the following on his Facebook page after learning about his friend,

"We don't ignore the violence taking place across Iraq. We choose to look it right in the eyes and tell of a better way. #preemptivelove"

Thus, after decades of enduring wars and sanctions, I'm very hopeful that this region will one day find peace. It will take time, and definitely a lot of effort, but I think that it's well worth it all.