Peace team stays in Iraq
2006-03-13 22:53
Baghdad - The three women from Christian
Peacemaker Teams remaining in Iraq have no plans to leave or
change their routine despite the killing of Tom Fox, one of four
men from their group kidnapped and held since last November.
Living in a rented apartment on a quiet downtown street,
their only indirect armed security is guards outside a
neighbouring Iraqi organisation.
"I don't want to be killed, I don't want to be kidnapped, I
don't want to be hurt," said Anita David, 60, a former
television set decorator from Chicago.
"But I don't have a
personal sense of doom every time I exit my house."
Conscious of their vulnerability the three Americans,
ranging in age from 43 to 63, decline photographs but that is
one of the few concessions to personal safety they make.
They considered moving but believe they are more secure
where people know them. They still walk to the local supermarket
in pairs, paying cash for groceries, and travel Iraq by car.
Their last road trip was a few weeks ago to Baquba, 65km north of Baghdad, along one of the most deadly
highways in Iraq to a city that sees daily insurgent violence.
"We make our own choices about where to go and how to go,
consulting closely with our Iraqi counterparts," said Maxine
Nash, 43, from Waukon, Iowa, who was a clinical researcher
before becoming a CPT activist.
Road crew
The group's work ranges from helping families find relatives
arrested by security forces by talking to US and Iraqi
government agencies through to removing trash from local roads.
Response to the Chicago-based group from local people has
been positive, they said.
"A lot of response you get depends on how you treat people,"
said Peggy Gish, 63, of Athens, Ohio who works on a Christian
communal farm that grows organic food.
"The American
authorities, the American military have a different approach."
They don't know of other Christian groups currently in Iraq,
but work with several local Muslim and Christian non-government
organisations. The three deny accusations they are naive.
"One may appear naive or illogical but it's not naivete or
being illogical," said David. "It arises from one's faith."
Largely funded by private donations from individuals, they
are chronically short of money but live like many Iraqis three
years after the US invasion.
The sporadic electricity barely illuminates the living room
of the apartment. The furniture is comfortable, but old and the
carpet worn. Children's drawings brighten a wall.
The Americans say they are neither missionaries nor
evangelists and do not attempt conversions.
There are no
crucifixes on the walls though that is not by design.
"We're kind of lame about our home decorating," said Nash.
"A lot of us carry our own" Christian symbols.
David restricts her religious objects to a small 1950s Greek
religious icon. For good luck she has a panda key ring.
Team members, about 40 in all, can spend up to five months in
Iraq on rotations of varying lengths and frequency.
"Despite the tragedy, people are ready to come back and do
the work," said Gish.
Iraqi entry visas are getting more difficult and they get
little support, and some discouragement, from the diplomats in
the world's biggest US embassy in Baghdad's heavily fortified
Green Zone.
But they have no intention of leaving.
"They tell us it's dangerous for us to be here," said Nash.
"We agree to disagree with them."
They will stay as long as their "presence is more help than
harm" said Nash.
And hope that captive Canadians James Loney and
Harmeet Sooden and Briton Norman Kember can one day leave too.