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Nahla in the Frame

A photo essay of Nahla Valley

Photography by Wilson Sarkis

Captions by Alan Mansour

Students attending this school read and write four languages: Sureth, English, Arabic, and Kurdish. Class sizes are small, and the entire curriculum is taught in the Sureth language. The schoolrooms are basic and some lack heat. Some funding is pro

Students and staff at the school make do with what they have, including old and outdated equipment.

Iraqi architecture is a mix of old and new. These ruins may someday be made livable again.

Volleyball tournaments allow students and staff to blow off steam and get in some physical exercise. It adds up to a fun day for players and observers alike.

Nahla Valley is comprised of eight Christian villages located behind Akra Mountain. It is a remote and isolated area, two hours of mountainous driving from the suburbs of Duhok. Despite the difficulties, there are 196 families who are still struggli

Fresh sesame butter is part of a daily diet that includes rice, beans, pickles, greens, and chicken, all of which are locally grown. This is a common Iraqi lunch at a friend’s house.

After the waterfall creates its hydropower to fuel the plant, the water is directed toward a farming area. The locals have paved the water channels and redirected the water to help in irrigating crops.

This man is working an oven, roasting sesame seeds at a fire fueled by fallen trees. This makes the mill self-sufficient energy-wise.

The sesame butter mill is in the village of Julieh. The mill gets its seeds from locals who walk 20 minutes bringing the seeds in to be processed, first by roasting.

The seeds are milled through a hopper; and then it is shipped away in 5 gal containers to be packaged in another facility.

Packaged Sesame Butter

A warm sesame butter that was milled minutes before, with freshly baked bread from a brick oven. This is a signature food in Iraq.

The abundance of water in Nahla Valley is in contrast to the rest of the country; however, it is only available for eight months of the year. The rest is dry season.

Roosters and chickens are everywhere in Nahla; they could be the official bird of the region. Here is a cock calling his flock home.

Enwiya Pethyo is a known farmer in the Nahla Valley. He had many opportunities to leave Nahla but refused, saying when you leave your land you lose your culture.

Kasrani kept it authentic with one exception, using solar power to keep the valley free from pollution.

The circular reed gazebo was created to replicate south America’s traditions to bond tourists to the valley.

The great Kasrani (Ashur Kasrani), a native of Nahla Valley, had been living in the diaspora until he decided to move back to Nahla and start Awahathan Village, which means “ancestral village.”

Chaldean News StaffJune 30, 2022Wilson Sarkis, Alan Mansour, In the Frame, Nahla Valley

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