Restoring the Homeland
Hamdaniya Mayor Isam Bihnam (left) and Nineveh Governor Najm Al Jubouri.
Chaldean Americans lead efforts to rebuild Nineveh
By Cal Abbo and Sarah Kittle
The Chaldean Community Foundation (CCF) officially has boots on the ground in Alqosh, Iraq. For the past 6 months, it has had a working relationship with two local surveyors, Ghazwan and Hanan, who will begin taking a full census of the state of the Chaldean villages and remaining families following the destruction and chaos of the ISIS invasion just a few years ago.
The Iraqi contractors have been meeting weekly with the CCF team by virtual means. There are additional plans in the works to open a physical office in Nineveh that can support economic development and job creation at the local level.
We all know that the Christian/Chaldean population in Iraq has been dwindling for the past few decades, but no one is really sure who is left and where they are living. In order to understand what must be done to entice those who fled to return, there is a need to know exactly what the current circumstances are in the villages and towns that were deserted. The new staff in Iraq, along with a local videographer, will help the CCF capture that data.
The demographics of the Nineveh Plain, much like the sands themselves, have shifted dramatically in the past decade. Thousands upon thousands of Chaldeans were forced for their own safety to move out of the country, and to this day few of the refugees have returned to their hometowns. As a result, the meager population left there is threatened by increased land theft. The dire situation underscores the importance of legitimate surveys that document the history of the land and who it belongs to.
Due to disputes between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Central Government of Iraq, those who live in the north are often subject to extra travel restrictions that create hardship and difficulty when trying to travel. This essentially means that Christian villagers who want to visit a neighboring village, even for work, are held up by outsiders brought in to verify their authority to move about freely.
For example, a villager from Batnaya used to be able to travel to Telsquf within a few minutes; now it may take several hours. There may even be several checkpoints to go through – the KRG, trying to assert authority on a larger domain, has their own in addition to the Iraqi Central Government’s.
The KRG is represented by the Peshmerga forces, primarily under the command of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), while the Iraqi government is, for the most part, represented by the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), which include some, but not enough, Christians and Yazidis. Both parties are responsible for security in the region and the hierarchy of power has yet to be established.
Iran continues to be an issue as well, backing Baghdad’s militias who are forcing security checkpoints and hours-long waits for travelers. This type of scrutiny creates unwanted and unnecessary tension and is an obstacle to doing business in the region.
Security in Iraq is a necessity, and local policing is an important component to provide stability for the villages and deter would-be terrorists from filling a power vacuum with another invasion. For some time now, it has been argued that the Christian residents in northern Iraq should have representation on the police force, but the subject has become so politicized that any efforts to hire and train the local Chaldeans there have been derailed.
Recently, the governor of the Nineveh Plain, Najm Al Jubouri, and the mayor of Hamdaniya, Isam Bihnam, visited the Chaldean Community Foundation here in the U.S. to discuss issues in the Nineveh Region, how the government is working to solve them, and how the Chaldean community in Detroit might be able to help.
Members of the CCF staff, members of clergy, and community leaders meet the Governor of Nineveh and the Mayor of Hamdaniya at the Foundation center in Sterling Heights.
One of the most pressing issues for the visiting delegates was the Iraqi “land grab.” Because so many families were forced to flee for their lives, they abandoned homes, farms, stores, and warehouses. These properties have often been claimed by another, meaning that even if the decision to return to Iraq was definite, what they would return to is not so easily defined.
Compounding the problems faced by the thought of reintegration is the lack of economic development in the region. Because the people are poor and the climate is changing, farming in Iraq – once the most common career for villagers there – is more difficult than ever before.
Leadership at the Chaldean Community Foundation and Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce (CACC) has been putting in a lot of effort to help those families left in Iraq. They’ve created a working group with the Kurdistan Regional Government to resolve disputes about land ownership, among other issues.
More and more Iraqi dignitaries are visiting the United States, and Michigan in particular, not only to tour the Chaldean Community Foundation and Chaldean Cultural Center, but to engage the Chaldean American community here in hopes for some economic assistance back at home. The recent visits by Hamdaniya’ s mayor and the Province of Nineveh’s governor were just the latest visitations from that sector.
Plans for economic revitalization in Iraq include the eventual launch of a Nineveh investment fund. This is an arena the Chaldean Chamber placed itself in two years ago with the launch of the Ark Angel Fund (AAF), a group of “angel” investors who seek to help start-ups by investing capital, with the hopes to make money themselves.
The success of the angel investment fund recently led the CACC Board of Directors to decide to launch a second fund. It is this model they will use to create business and hopefully soon, the launch of a “Made in Nineveh” brand. The team in Iraq has identified products made by locals in Chaldean villages and are working to help them not only set up stores locally to do business with their neighbors, but to package and ship their goods for sale here in the United States.
The community here in America can do more than throw money at Iraq; a congressional delegation joined by leaders from the Chaldean community will visit the Nineveh region this month. Any commitment to assist has to be years- or even decades-long, and active supporters know they are in for the long haul.
The dire situation for Christians in the Middle East wasn’t created overnight and will not be resolved overnight, but with the help of successful Chaldeans in the States, there is at least a glimmer of hope for a rebirth of faith in Iraq.