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Preemptive Love Coalition Home   Lifesaving heart surgeries for Iraqi children in pursuit of peace between communities at odds.


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In A Word: “Neighbors”

December 7, 2011 by matt · Leave a Comment 

Photo by Jamal Penjay

Haka ta nazani, chava da jeerani.
-Kurdish proverb

Translation: “If you don’t know, look to your neighbor.”

Photo by Jamal Penjweny

As PLC's Press Secretary, Matt Willingham is bent on leveraging words and media to connect hearts and minds to Iraqi children in need. On the side, he likes reading old books, devouring the great food his wife cooks up and dabbling in DSLR video work. He's also mildly obsessed with Twitter: @mehtin.

In A Word: “Mend”

November 30, 2011 by Lydia · Leave a Comment 

To see more by Polish artist/cartoonist Pawel Kuczynski, go here.

Lydia Bullock wrote and photographed for us during the 2010 summer internship and then again for 7 months in 2011. She documented surgical missions in northern and southern Iraq. See more of her excellent work on our Flickr stream, or follow her on Twitter: @lydiabullock.

In A Word: “Thanksgiving”

November 23, 2011 by Lydia · Leave a Comment 

Miles outside of Sulaymaniyah, a man gives thanks and prays as the sun sets behind him.

Lydia Bullock wrote and photographed for us during the 2010 summer internship and then again for 7 months in 2011. She documented surgical missions in northern and southern Iraq. See more of her excellent work on our Flickr stream, or follow her on Twitter: @lydiabullock.

An Interview With Artist Ben Hodson (And A Video Of His Work)

September 3, 2011 by matt · 2 Comments 

Last month we introduced you to a piece by Ben Hodson, and some of you responded wanting to know more. So Ben shared this video with us documenting how he made the Amna Suraka photomontage.

(HINT: While you’re waiting for the video to load, check out the short interview with Ben below!)

PLC: Start with a little background. What influenced you toward becoming an artist?

Ben: I was born in Brighton, UK into a family with a painter for a mother and a creative entrepreneur for a father. They inspired me to creatively look for solutions to the world’s issues. I moved around a fair bit as a child and even lived in India for a couple of years. These experiences greatly influenced my outlook on life and how I appreciate and view other cultures.

PLC: So where did your interest in Iraq come from? Were you previously interested in Kurdistan before traveling there?

Ben: I have an interest in people–especially people who have a story to tell. The Kurdish and Iraqi stories are surely some of the most defining stories of the 20th and 21st centuries. I have always had an interest in travel and new cultures, and the Middle East has a very hospitable and family-oriented culture, which I like. I also love Kebabs!

PLC: What kind of response have you had to this Amna Suraka piece from Kurds and Brits? Did the exhibit get a good turnout?

Ben: Initially, Kurdish people didn’t respond well to anything with the word “Iraq” in it, but as soon as I spoke to them and explained the relevance and how this draws Brits and Europeans in, they were very positive. It’s a story that most of the West has not heard.

The response [at the exhibit] was very good, hundreds of visitors came to the show, we got numerous feedback comments, we had local and regional press coverage and the curator of the gallery said to me that it was the best show they had ever put on.

PLC: Lastly, would you tell us a little about your work in general and what visual peacemaking means to you?

Ben: I’m interested in ideas of storytelling, narrative, place and location. This is why I went to Iraq. I went looking to explore the story of the Iraq still unseen, to engage with the lives, questions and challenges the media has been ignoring. Though I wanted to tell their story, I soon realised that I could not do this as well as the Iraqi people themselves.

I am not a photojournalist, I do not hunt down the headlines or stop myself getting involved. I am interested in the people, their lives and their stories. I cannot expect people to be affected by what I show them without first allowing my own heart to be broken by what I experienced.

For me, visual peacemaking is about using our creativity to bring about positive change in the world. Specifically bringing peace through all visual means, not just photography.  I am an artist, the photography and filmmaking is only part of what I do. Visual Peacemaking could be done through actually showing art; maybe a documentary, an exhibition of art by a misunderstood community, a series of photographs or even a piece of sculpture or installation art.  This of course embraces the beauty and common humanity of other cultures, but it also may be in finding healing/understanding in our differences and past hurts.

You can check out more of Ben’s work on his personal website HERE. Thanks for reading!

As PLC's Press Secretary, Matt Willingham is bent on leveraging words and media to connect hearts and minds to Iraqi children in need. On the side, he likes reading old books, devouring the great food his wife cooks up and dabbling in DSLR video work. He's also mildly obsessed with Twitter: @mehtin.

In a Word: “Angel Veins”

August 3, 2011 by matt · 3 Comments 

The human heart stripped of fat and muscle, with just the angel veins exposed.

“The human heart stripped of fat and muscle, with just the angel veins exposed.”

credit: hotcupsoftea

As PLC's Press Secretary, Matt Willingham is bent on leveraging words and media to connect hearts and minds to Iraqi children in need. On the side, he likes reading old books, devouring the great food his wife cooks up and dabbling in DSLR video work. He's also mildly obsessed with Twitter: @mehtin.

In A Word: “Daily Square”

July 7, 2011 by Lydia · 1 Comment 

A collage of images from PLC's Remedy Mission VI in southern Iraq

The Daily Square is a compilation of photos from Remedy Mission VI in southern Iraq. For more Daily Squares, check out PLC’s Facebook page.

Lydia Bullock wrote and photographed for us during the 2010 summer internship and then again for 7 months in 2011. She documented surgical missions in northern and southern Iraq. See more of her excellent work on our Flickr stream, or follow her on Twitter: @lydiabullock.

Stepping Back And Looking Forward

December 13, 2010 by Cody · Leave a Comment 

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It’s not everyday you go to a place where they say it all began.

A place where they say the Garden of Eden might have been, where Abraham lived, where civilization sprung up along with architecture and the invention of the wheel.

We spent the day outside of the hospital, canoeing through the marshes on the Tigris River and meeting with local sheikh’s, eating lamb, drinking tea, and standing on the roof of the site that Abraham called home.

It was a complicated picture though, with military on every corner, and an AK-47 jammed in between the driver’s seat and mine.

Imagine trying to close your eyes and picture the Garden of Eden when police sirens and car horns continually bring every thought into submission.

It was a good change, to be out of the hospital and instead of talking about the future and trying to cast a vision for healthcare, to instead listen and hear about the history of the land we’ve stepped into.

I found out that the man who directs our security once lived in the marshes we were canoeing through. His family fled there, like so many, to hide from Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi military. To save their lives they left their homes and cars for reed huts and canoes.

I also found out that some of the doctors and politicians we spent the day with were once revolutionaries who rallied local tribes and cities to resist the regime.

From the time Abraham left it seems like the people here have been in one epic struggle for tomorrow.

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But since the fall of Saddam they’ve been able to devote their resources towards development rather than just survival. Now these sheikhs and revolutionaries are the leading voices in developing health care, strengthening the school systems, and building stronger ties within their local communities.

The Middle East is a complex culture built on honor and with each day that we’re here, we see how they continue to honor those who have gone before them and also those who are following close behind. They’ve sacrificed so much to have today and they continue to sacrifice for tomorrow.

As hard as it was to try to imagine the past today, we got glimpses here and there. Sometimes it’s just as difficult to try to imagine the future but with each surgery and with each story we hear, we get small glimpses that let us know this is all going to be worth it.

Cody Fisher is the co-founder and Development Director of the Preemptive Love Coalition. He moved to Iraq in 2007 where he met his wife and since then they've been waging peace and mending hearts across Iraq. His passions are photography, peacemaking, and food that doesn't come out of a can. You can follow him on Twitter: @candmfisher.

Photo of the Day

June 24, 2010 by Lydia · Leave a Comment 

Honya

Little Honya peeks out from behind her mother in the kitchen, so cute! This is from our most recent home visit with Honya, she is so healthy and happy!

Lydia Bullock wrote and photographed for us during the 2010 summer internship and then again for 7 months in 2011. She documented surgical missions in northern and southern Iraq. See more of her excellent work on our Flickr stream, or follow her on Twitter: @lydiabullock.

Photo of the Day

June 16, 2010 by Lydia · Leave a Comment 

Klash

PLC interns have recently worked with local shoe makers to design the first-ever pair of female Klash! Here, a Klash-maker cuts ribbon for the bow, which is one feminine aspect of the new shoes. Pre-order a pair here for a limited time only.

www.buyshoessavelives.com

Lydia Bullock wrote and photographed for us during the 2010 summer internship and then again for 7 months in 2011. She documented surgical missions in northern and southern Iraq. See more of her excellent work on our Flickr stream, or follow her on Twitter: @lydiabullock.

Pondering Available Responses to Genocide and Its Effects

June 10, 2010 by Lauren · Leave a Comment 

A diorama of the streets of Halabja on March 16, 1988

On March 16, 1988, toward the end of the Iran-Iraq War, the Iraqi military used chemical weapons on the city of Halabja. The attack was meant to erase all Halabja inhabitants off the map: plants, animals and humans. A total of 5,000 men, women and children were killed in the attack, and of the survivors, 11,000 were injured.

As we walked through the memorial, I recalled an ancient Hebrew poem:

By the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept
When we remembered Zion.
There on the poplars we hung our harps,
For there our captors asked us for songs,
Our tormentors demanded songs of joy

The poem is about the Hebrew people who were exiled in the land of Babylon, present-day Iraq. They cried because they missed their homeland; they cried because they were expected to be happy and play songs for their captors. But they couldn’t.

I wonder if that’s how the survivors of Halabja felt. They didn’t want to sing songs. Their families died. Their neighbors died. Like the Hebrews, some Iraqis living in Halabja had to leave their land and flee to Iran.

I’m trying to make sense of what happened in Halabja. I’m trying to make it mean something to me. We are bombarded with images of war and genocide on the news, making it easy to forget that Halabja was a reality. We forget that congenital birth defects caused by this and similar chemical attacks are a reality.

O, Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is he who repays you
for what you have done to us

I hate how the Hebrew poem ends. Instead of offering hope for a people, it speaks of revenge against the tormentors. Hate is so easy. It is our job to choose not to hate.

Many children here need surgeries and medication and therapy to address their congenital birth defects. And some of them probably need this help as a result of the chemical attacks in Halabja and other attacks similar to it. As a newcomer and summer intern, I love that the Preemptive Love Coalition response to genocide is not to seek revenge on behalf of victims, but to work alongside Iraqis to bring healing to suffering children.


Mohammad Needs Urgent Heart Surgery Outside Iraq Mohammad’s family had $6,000 in-hand on loan from a friend to get their son the heart surgery he needed. Then the creditor decided to build a new house and took his loan back before Mohammad received surgery. Now the family is trying to find surgical solutions. Donate the amount of your choice by entering it in the field below to help send Mohammad to life-saving heart surgery.

Lauren Sawyer, a PLC summer intern ('10), is telling Preemptive Love’s story by managing its year-end review. Along with storytelling, Lauren loves reading 20th Century literature, listening to (good) music and chatting over a cup of coffee.

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