Buhar (56)

Oh! My husband? I’ve known him all my life. From the day we were sent out to tend sheep. We were bored to death, being in the field for days on end. He made me laugh. Sometimes we would chase the sheep, out of sheer boredom. And we would also dance. When we were too self-conscious to dance outside, we would dance in the barn.

Then he got the idea to ask my parents for my hand. I said no! He had seen my ability to manage a household, and he proposed a second time. And a third. The fourth time he cried. I said yes out of pity, and that’s how it began.

At the time that my husband was forced into the Iraqi army I gave birth to our first two sons. I lived as a single mother. I raised the children with the help of my family and ran our business on my own. Without my husband I was very sad. This was strange, because just a year prior I couldn’t get used to being married, to having him around me and to new routines. Now I suddenly missed him.

I missed dancing with him, singing with him, and joking around. You want me to show you how I danced? No! No, I cannot dance for you now. It feels wrong. We know people who have lost their children to terrorists, our homes and our past has been destroyed. It’s not the time for singing and celebrating, too much has happened.