“Peace has its roots, and these roots are Youth”

Bashar Taha

This is how I quoted my early first words for 2016 Baghdad, the city of peace carnival ceremony opening during a Ramadan Iftar dinner event

Burj babel, today was my first time to be here, after being invited by a friend of mine to attend this fascinating Ramadan Iftar event. Which was held on Burj Babel gardens, with the efforts of the carnival volunteers

My curiosity & eagerness for peace have gave me the motivation to go there, despite the distance between my home residence & the event location

As I got myself there, all that was taking my sights & views was the smiles of the youth who were standing at the entrance, welcoming and receiving attendees at the event

Youth spirits & the positive energy were emitting from everywhere, you could simply feel their joyful vibes radiating & covering the whole place

As i was approaching more, a receptionist was crossing my eyes, he was selling tickets for the event. I couldn’t resist his friendly smile drawn on his face that shows and sums up every single detail I ever needed to know about the event

As I took my ticket, I walked in there towards the premises gardens, all what I was viewing was people sitting one by another on matts, literally on the floor, I knew few of them.. Suddenly I heard someone on a distance from me telling me: “sit and blend in with the guys, even if you knew none”, personally, I was amazed cause i think that some people are not as friendly as you expect and I really didn’t want to get myself involved in an awkward situation

There was this guy, he seemed very nice, neutral and friendly we had a little chitchat, talked to his group as well, basically we were talking about youth and their ambitions

As we waited for the Iftar dinner, a group of young guys approached the garden where everyone was sitting, they gave us water, yoghurt, soup and a dinner meal. We were all eating together, caring nothing about our ethnic or religious backgrounds, because we were all believing in peace, we all knew that peace was surrounding us and guarding us. We all knew that peace comes from our depths, from the inside, from our hearts

As we were enjoying the event, a band called “project 904” was playing, we literally got ourselves fascinated and amazed by their rhythms, and the way they were playing their instruments, those rhythm were the rhythms of peace, everyone was synchronizing involuntary with their music, everyone was dancing.. And everyone was happy. Their music even has strengthened the invisible walls of peace surrounding us, i still don’t know the person who was dancing with me, but i bet he was a peacemaker, just like me and the audience at the event

It was a wonderful, unforgettable and peaceful event… May the peace always stands with the spirits trying to spread peace, in a country that struggles hard to seek peace

Thank you very much for inviting me for this marvelous event