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KIRKUK, 10 Jan 2005 (IRIN)
- Set up a year ago, a Save the Children-run youth
centre in the northern city of Kirkuk is looking to
expand its activities.
Established in a mixed Turkmen-Kurdish quarter on
the city's eastern edge, the cultural centre started
working out of an old Baathist youth club in
September last year.
Catering to young people over the age of 14, it has
a library, a sports hall and Internet room.
At any one time, staff say, between 70 and 200
people are attending courses it offers in computing,
art and music.
"It is the only place of its kind in Kirkuk," said
Asso Mohamed, who works in the city's central
market. Mohamed is an accomplished player of the oud,
the long-necked fretless lute played throughout the
Middle East.
He now comes whenever he can for free lessons with
the centre's resident teacher. "I'm learning songs
I'd heard before but never been able to play," he
said.
Heartened by the success of the centre, manager
Suhad Abdullatif has a couple of new projects she
wants to implement.
So far, the sporting facilities on offer have been
weighted towards men. It's an imbalance that female
users of the centre have commented on and one she
hopes to remedy early next year with a gym for
women.
"We have the space," she told IRIN, referring to a
large room currently inhabited only by a boxer's
punch-bag. "All we need is 3 million Iraqi dinars
[US $2,000] to build three bathrooms and buy
apparatus and mirrors for the wall."
When completed, the facilities will offer 40 women
the opportunity to keep fit, 20 in the morning and
20 after lunch.
"There is a women's gym in Kirkuk, but it costs too
much for most to be able to afford," explained
Abdullatif.
From 12 December, the centre began hosting the first
book fair Kirkuk has seen since liberation. Due to
run for two months, the fair is based on one which
took place in Sulaymaniyah, a Kurdish city an hour
and a half to the east.
"Kirkuk people are poor, and the idea of the fair
was to try to sell books as cheaply as possible,"
said Abdullatif. "When he approached the city
authorities to ask for a venue, they were unable to
provide anything. So we offered him the use of our
hall."
The programme manager for KSC's Kirkuk projects,
Mustafa Ibrahim, knows all about the difficulties of
dealing with the municipality in this
ethnically-divided city. His greatest concern,
though, is with keeping his staff at their jobs.
Already overburdened with civil servants before the
war, Iraq has seen a massive increase in government
jobs since. Understandably, since these positions
offer a good salary, stability and perks such as
interest-free loans, many Iraqis dream of
transferring from the private sector.
"I've lost count of the number of people who've
resigned since last year," said Ibrahim. "Replacing
them is becoming increasingly difficult,
particularly in a city like Kirkuk, where education
levels are low and qualified people in low supply."
There is a silver lining even to this, though. "The
heads of the music and art departments of Kirkuk
College of Arts 'graduated' from us," said Ibrahim.
"Though they've left us, they've taken our
philosophy with them - it is far easier to
collaborate with them than with their predecessors."
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