Progress Report
I was shopping at the hypermarket inside the Majidi Mall, which was outfitted in holiday splendor. Christmas ornaments, wrapping paper, and artificial trees belie the religion of the region. As I was looking for travel size bottles of shampoo (they don’t exist here yet), my attention was drawn to four late middle aged men shopping together. They were in the condom aisle, looking at the different varieties, picking up a single box, sizing up its individual attributes, discussing each brand’s individual merits, putting down the box, picking up the next, and repeat. In my part of the world, late middle aged men don’t go condom shopping in groups, nor do they discuss the would-be purchased condoms with their friends in public. Was it a sign of progress? I felt something akin to nostalgia as I watched them. Just 4-5 years ago there weren’t even paved roads or highways in Erbil. The nostalgia extended to the middle aged men marveling at the huge spinning cylinder set up to hold raffle tickets just past the check out aisles that stretched twenty minutes long.
Progress has hit nightlife in Erbil. There are restaurant lounges, bar lounges with house music nights, a new soul night with bottle service in the works, sports bar wannabes, and a pseudo posh drinks lounge above a functional go cart track. Walking into a particular popular nightspot is like breaking open a fortune cookie and getting self-help platitudes from a random stranger. One week I was told that I hang out with bad people; the next I was told that I have a heart full of love, but I haven’t found the right person to give it to. Observing the frenzied drinking and desperate flirting around me, I wasn’t sure there was anyone who’d want it.
Progress marches forward on the macro level as well. It is not just oil that draws investors. Some say Kurdistan’s natural gas deposits are more lucrative than its oil reserves. There’s a geopolitical punch too. If a pipeline were constructed in Kurdistan (a country that loves the United States because it killed Saddam) and connected to Turkey to serve Western Europe, it could cut Russia out, thereby reducing Russia’s regional influence. Rumor has it there are also uranium, gold and silver deposits hiding in these verdant hills. Canadian teams are already exploring. Of course, the Turks, who wield their own amount of regional hegemony, would probably not take kindly to a politically rising, economically vibrant Kurdistan.
As long as the money flows, there is one sector that won’t, unfortunately, progress forward. Education is lacking here as family name and tribal affiliation trump a diploma in all aspects, and most students know that. There isn’t a premium placed on critical skills or applied knowledge because there isn’t a cultural tradition of education as the country has been at war for most of the last thirty odd years. Instead, the function of a diploma is much like that of a designer handbag: status. As long as the country prospers, fundamental education reform won’t come to the forefront of policy agenda any time soon.
