Waves of Life

By Dana Berzinjy

Based on a true story this novel tells an unfolding story of a family-hitting crisis. Eight members within the family faced day-by-day challenges, which were created by political situations. Set in Iraq, the city of Slemaniy, this family is one from many affected by the political war. Diyako, tries to make money, becomes sick, gets arrested and struggles to live with any happiness. Onto a love story between his sibling Hanar, and a man whom is not accepted within the family. Whilst dealing with threats the couple try to overcome the obstacles they are faced before getting married. Rozh goes through stealing and struggles, which leads one of the family members to a suicidal death.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Oct 30, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499025736

Dana Berzinjy

Dana was born in the city of Sulaimaniyah (Slemaniy). His full name is Dana Kadir Ali Kadir Kake Mahmud Zerin. His parents were born in the town of Berzinje. Dana finished his Primary Public School in the town of Berzinje in 1971; he had also finished his Intermediate School in 1974 in the city of Sulaimaniyah in the Intermediate School of Azmir. He finished Diploma of Commercial Practices (Accounting) in 1977 in the city of Sulaimaniyah. Now he lives in Sydney/Australia, and he has two lovely daughters Vanna and Shivan. The author has finished the following studies in Australia, Bachelor of Business in 1995 from the Faculty of Business and Computing at Southern Cross University in Lismore. Bachelor of Teaching (Secondary) Faculty of Education {University of Western Sydney Macarthur} 2002. Postgraduate Diploma in Adult Education (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) in 2000, Faculty of Education at the University of Western Sydney Macarthur. Postgraduate Diploma in Business in 1998 (Employment Relations) Faculty of Business (University of Technology Sydney). He is also finished Masters Degree in (Adult Education TESOL) (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) in 2005, Faculty of Education at the University of Western Sydney Macarthur. Dana worked as a NAATI’S I/T examiner Panel for the Kurdish Language from July 1999-2001, in Sydney. He also worked at SBS radio/Sydney (Kurdish program) as a news reporter with translating roles, from July 1997-1998. In Aug 1997-Feb 1998 he was a Personal Assistant Officer at Fairfield City Council/HRM. Dana was also trained to become an Interpreter for the Kurdish and English languages for the Department of Social Security (Centre Link) in Lismore this was in Aug 1996. Lastly he worked as a manager for the Supplementary Section at the Faculty of Education in the city of Slemaniy and (Hewler/Erbil from April-1980 and left at 1987, with some disrupted work. Dana worked as a NAATI’S I/T examiner Panel for the Kurdish Language from July 1999-2001, in Sydney. He also worked at SBS radio-Sydney (Kurdish program) as a news reporter with translating roles, from July 1997-1998. In Aug 1997-Feb 1998 he was a Personal assistant officer at Fairfield City Council/HRM. Dana was also trained to become an Interpreter for the Kurdish and English languages for the Department of Social Security in Lismore this was in Aug 1996. Lastly he worked as a manager for the supplementary section at the Faculty of Education, in Sulaimaniyah and (Hewler/Erbil from April-1980 and left at 1987, with some disrupted work. Dana worked for the Department of Education, for seven and a half years, as a Teacher’s Aide in different High Schools in NSW. He is also worked as a Practicum Teacher at Holroyd High School, in Intensive English Centre and Rooty Hill High School, and taught Mathematics. Dana found a teaching position in 1999 at Macquarie College in Liverpool, which belonged to University of Western Sydney. Finally, he joined Navitas English as a teacher from April 2001 until December 2011 and taught English in different English Colleges, Finally he taught English at Parramatta Navitas English College until December 2011 in Parramatta. At the present he teaches at the Faculty of Languages/English Department at Koya University as an assistant lecturer.The author speaks the following languages, Kurdish, English, Arabic, Turkish and Persian.

Book preview

Waves of Life

BASED ON A TRUE STORY

Dana Berzinjy

Copyright © 2014 by Dana Berzinjy.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-4990-2563-7

                eBook           978-1-4990-2573-6

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Anyone depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 10/30/2014

Xlibris

1-800-455-039

www.Xlibris.com.au

513770

CONTENTS

Dedication

Acknowledgement

Introduction

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty-One

Chapter Forty-Two

Chapter Forty-Three

Chapter Forty-Four

Chapter Forty-Five

Chapter Forty-Six

DEDICATION

I would like to dedicate this book to my grandparents and my parents, who worked very hard so that they could raise me with such minimal income. To our people of Kurdistan, for the Kurdish martyrs, and for those people that sacrificed their lives and worked hard in order to achieve victory. I would like to dedicate this book to my great partner and friend Tara without her I would not be able to make it. She worked hard with me through the dark days and nights in Kurdistan and other Regions of Kurdistan. Hand in hand supported me through our difficult life in every aspect without stopping day and night. Especially when we were crossing the high mountains between the Iraqi Kurdistan (South of Kurdistan), Iranian Kurdistan (Eastern Kurdistan) and Kurdistan of Turkey (North of Kurdistan). To my lovely and angelic daughters Vanna and Shivan.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to acknowledge the following for their support and encouragement whilst writing this book. They were always there to help me through it all: My partner and friend Tara and my lovely daughters Vanna and Shivan.

Dana Berzinjy

The following is a brief biography about the author.

Dana was born in the city of Sulaimaniyah (Slemaniy). His original name is Dana Kadir Ali Kadir Kake Mahmud Zerin. Dana finished his Primary School in the town of Berzinje in 1971; he had also finished his Intermediate School in 1974 in the city of Sulaimaniyah in the Intermediate School of Azmir. He finished Diploma of Commercial Practices (Accounting) in 1977 in the city of Sulaimaniyah.

Now he lives in Sydney/Australia, and has two lovely daughters Vanna and Shivan. The author has finished the following studies in Australia, Bachelor of Business in 1995 from the Faculty of Business and Computing at Southern Cross University in Lismore. Bachelor of Teaching (Secondary) Faculty of Education {University of Western Sydney Macarthur} 2002. Postgraduate Diploma in Adult Education (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) in 2000, Faculty of Education at the University of Western Sydney Macarthur. Postgraduate Diploma in Business in 1998. (Employment Relations) Faculty of Business (University of Technology Sydney).

He has also finished Masters Degree in (Adult Education TESOL) (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) in 2005, Faculty of Education at the University of Western Sydney Macarthur. Dana worked as a NAATI’S I/T examiner Panel for the Kurdish Language from July 1999-2001, in Sydney. He also worked at SBS radio/Sydney (Kurdish program) as a news reporter with translating roles, from July 1997-1998. In Aug 1997-Feb 1998 he was a Personal Assistant Officer at Fairfield City Council/HRM. Dana was also trained to become an Interpreter for the Kurdish and English languages for the Department of Social Security (Centre Link) in Lismore this was in Aug 1996. Lastly he worked as a manager for the Supplementary Section at the Faculty of Education in the city of Slemaniy and (Hewler/Erbil from April-1980 and left at 1987, with some disrupted work. Dana worked for the Department of Education, for seven and a half years, as a Teacher’s Aide in different High Schools in NSW. He is also worked as a Practicum Teacher at Holroyd High School, in Intensive English Centre and Rooty Hill High School, and taught Mathematics. Dana found a teaching position in 1999 at Macquarie College in Liverpool, which belonged to University of Western Sydney. Finally, he joined Navitas English as a teacher from April 2001 until December 2011 and taught English in different English Colleges.

Lastly, he taught English at Parramatta Navitas English College until December 2011 in Parramatta. At the present he teaches at the Faculty of Languages/English Department at Koya University as an assistant lecturer. The author speaks the following languages, Kurdish, English, Arabic, Turkish and Persian.

INTRODUCTION

In this story there are 8 family members. Each one had a different role within the family, and political situations from the past. The different situations had affected almost all of them but in different proportions. The family was exiled to south of Iraq in 1968, due to their father who was an army officer, and had involvement in politics. In Iraq at the time, only one party was allowed to be active politically, which was the Arab Baath Socialist Party. The role of these characters were different according to their educational backgrounds as some members are illiterate creating yet again different situations that sometimes guided the family in the wrong way.

The story was set in Iraqi Kurdistan in the city of Slemaniy. The characters would sometimes go to different cities in Iraq for different reasons explained within the story. The eldest sister became sick and passed away, the 2nd oldest sister committed suicide, the younger brother also became sick 10 years ago, and his older brother was captured by the former Iraqi government and as the result of this he became mentally sick as well. In addition their father had past away on 10th of June 2014 after midnight around 12: 30 am.

CHAPTER ONE

Diyako is a very kind, clever and hardworking person. He always remains calm and cares deeply about his friends and family. He is a helpful person and is always concerned about supporting others.

He was a student that wanted to graduate from High School to become a H.S. teacher so that he could build a future for himself. Unfortunately certain aspects within his life did not allow him to pursue the dream he always wanted.

His father could not afford to give money to all of his family members, which included him. This left him with no money to be able to spend at school. He would sell different products in different seasons, for instance he would sell pomegranates in summer. He had many customers as his fruit was always clean and everyone saw the good person that he was. He would go buy pomegranates early in the morning from a fruit market.

Then take them home so that his family could help him take the seeds out, that way it would be ready to sell for the next day. He would take the fruit close to the shops, as many people would walk in and out of the shops bringing good exposure to the fruit. Having done this he had to bribe his way by paying to be able to have a spot next to the shops.

Once he collected his profits he used the money to help his mother buy daily groceries and saved a bit to help with school expenses even though it was not much at the time.

One day his mother said, You know your dad’s salary is really not much, to keep the family going for thirty days.

He said, yes mum I understand, what can we do?

Mother said, we are lucky you are helping us, the government’s minimal income is not enough. He understood that even though he couldn’t help as much as he wanted to, his work was important for their survival and everything he did meant a lot for the family. Diyako’s mother was so proud of him and appreciated everything he did to help them within the hard times they faced.

Their situation and unavailability of jobs were caused by the former Iraqi government, and they took the entire Kurdish jobs and resources in Kurdistan for themselves. As a result of this the land was occupied which led unemployment in Iraqi Kurdistan sky high and the people poor.

CHAPTER TWO

Diyako was good friends with his neighbor, ever since they went to primary school together. Though his neighbor did have some bad habits, like smoking, which influenced Diyako also. His neighbor started smoking very early right from year 7 and came from an uneducated family. His parents were over weight and sick, they could hardly go outside or go to the shops to buy supplies for the family. His mother did have a job at a school, so most of the time Diyako’s friend was alone.

Diyako now also smokes and started in intermediate school. He smokes now up to two and a half packets of cigarettes a day, sometimes even more. Back then he was not allowed to smoke at school, as there were strict rules. That didn’t stop him; he always found a way to smoke whether it is in the toilets during recess or sneaking out sometimes.

His teeth became so dirty from smoking, as if it was rusted. He didn’t clean his teeth often either which didn’t help the situation. He was better as a child, with cleaning wise but as he became a bit sick he changed.

His third and fourth fingers from his right hand have yellow spots that go through his fingers as he had been smoking for so long the affects are evident. He was never allowed to smoke in front of his family members especially his father and older brother Daniel. Sometimes his brother would catch him smoking and would throw out his cigarettes, but he would still do it behind every ones back.

They tried plenty of ways to help him stop, his brother who currently lives in England and has been there for over twenty four years sent him chewing gum a type that helps people quit smoking, but it was no use to his brother. So the affects of coughing, getting sick and harming himself still continues as there is no real support or clinics around in Kurdistan to help people who have addiction problems.

CHAPTER THREE

One day Diyako was working at the car wash company and was captured by the Iraqi secret soldiers. He was a student at that time and was working in the afternoons. He wanted to graduate from High School and then build a bright future for himself, his family and his country Kurdistan. This was hard as at the time Kurdistan had a lot of problems going on. This made the hopes and dreams for the indigenous Kurdish people become harder to make reality.

One day he was working at a car wash company with his fellow friends. His father would work there sometimes as well. His father was retired but unfortunately the salary he received did not last a week so, that’s why he had to work in order to keep the family together by being able to look after them.

It was a summer and he was working in the car company. He was tired because they washed so many cars that day.

Then suddenly someone in blue overalls approached the workers and said: I have a bulldozer and I would like to bring it in in order for it to be washed as it is very muddy and dirty.

The boss said, its ok bring it in and we will wash it for you.

But the man in blue overall said, its very dirty, it will take so much time to wash it.

The boss said, its ok, never mind we will do that for you, it’s our job.

Then, he asked, and how much do you charge for the washing?

The boss said, ten Iraqi Dinars. Is that ok with you?

The man said, its ok, I will go and bring it, it’s just around the corner.

The boss said, its ok we will wait for you but hurry up and don’t be late, we will finish work in an hour.

The man said, sure I will be back soon.

While they were speaking he pulled out a pistol and said, do not move! If you move, I will kill you all.

The workers were busy washing a military car, which belonged to the General Army Officer who was based in the city of Slemaniy and was in charge of the Military Head Quarter. Two Iraqi Arab soldiers patrolled the car, but they were not aware of what was going on.

The man in the blue overalls asked everyone in the car washing company to sit on the floor without moving!

Then the workers and the other people including the soldiers sat down on the floor. Eventually another Kurdish Freedom Fighter who was waiting for him outside of the company in order to protect him in case something happens accompanied the man in the blue overalls.

The man popped quickly in the army car and drove away with his friend. They drove to the outskirts of the city and run away towards the Serchnar area, which was outside of the city and was a tourist area. Then the soldiers called the Army Head Quarter then after 30 minutes, Iraqi helicopters covered the sky towards the mountains beyond the area of Serchnar, but they were not able to point out the area of the Kurdish Freedom Fighters, so they took the car and escaped from the area.

After that, it was almost dark and the sun disappeared but the helicopters were still searching the area and looking for the car, but it was useless. The Iraqi soldiers searched again the next morning but still no luck finding them.

At the same time different Iraqi troops were searching also and went to the car wash company to ask all the employees that worked there yesterday to join them. They took them to the to the Iraqi Head Quarter Military Base, (IHQMB) to the city of Slemaniy, it was about ten minutes away from the car wash company, by car. The workers had no choice so when they arrived they scaffold all the five employees, then they drove towards the city of Slemaniy, and took them to the Iraqi Head Quarter Military Base. When they arrived there, they then went to the Iraqi Military Secret Section, (IMSS), in Arabic language called Mukhaberat) for interrogation.

They put them all in a room, which was full of water. Suddenly, the soldiers turned on the air-conditioning, which scared the workers as there was a loud noise coming from it. They kept the air-conditioning on for such a long time; they were all wet and freezing.

The next day, the first person was Diyako who was taken to a single room to be interrogated. The room was so small he could barely fit. On the floor there were hard sharp steels that were like needles or pins. He had to sit on them for one hour, while his body was bleeding from the sharp needles. After the hour he was taken to another room with two Iraqi secret soldiers, which were not in uniform.

They asked him who took the car? If you tell us we can help you, if not you will be here forever. Diyako explained and said, I did not personally know the man, only that he was wearing blue overalls and that he wanted to get his bulldozer washed but then took out a black pistol and threatened us. He also said, we tried to beg him not to take the military car, as we would get in trouble but he didn’t listen

They then asked, why did not you call us?

He replied how? We were all on the floor and did not have time to do anything.

They told him tell us more!

he said, that’s all I know.

Then, suddenly one of the secret soldiers slapped him in the face and he fell off the chair onto the floor. The other one starting kicking him.

He cried, please do not kick me, I am a student and I don’t know anything else.

Then the boss told one of the soldiers, "take