Giving Them A Voice

I have the opportunity to accompany a group of Europeans who are going to Turkey for humanitarian reasons. We leave in a few hours, and I'll be there for about a week. I thought that while I'm waiting for my visa to Iraq to be approved, I could go with this group and write about what's happening there and its affect on Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The group will work down to the Iraqi border.

I will be in communication and able to post from there, and I'll take pictures. They are going to the area that is still suffering from the earthquake as well as a couple of other places. I met this group yesterday. We talked briefly about what they're doing and what I'm hoping to do. I asked them if they would mind having a journalist accompany them, and they told me they'd get back to me early this morning. They did -- around 4:30 a.m.

"If you want to go with us, we're leaving around noon," the lady said. Her name is Natalia, and she's from Italy. The group is comprised of people from several European countries. Heck, no group is complete unless there's a nosy American along, right? Right.

It's funny how easy it is to get into some countries and how difficult it is to enter others. It's not easy to get a visa to Iraq, and I understand that the situation there is more dangerous than Kuwait or even Turkey or Afghanistan. But I don't want to sit on my hands here in Kuwait while Baghdad approves the visa. It could take two days, or it could take a month. It's best if I work on other projects while I'm waiting for Baghdad to push all other matters aside and tend to my visa application. I mean, I'm sure that the moment they see my application, bells will go off, people will start shouting into phones and even the insurgents will halt their murder while someone stamps "Approved" on my application. Once that's done, Baghdad will be able to get back to business, and I'll be on my way.

It's not that I'm anxious to see suffering. I'm anxious to give forgotten and unnoticed people a voice.

I'm anxious to tell you about ordinary people doing extraordinary things.