remembering a sad day in 1988

Today we started out on a journey to the town of Halabja. If you don't know the history of this town, let me briefly tell you. In 1988, within a 5-minute period, more than 5,000 people were killed from the poisonous gas of Saddam Hussein. The picture of the statue depicts a father lying on top of his young son, trying to protect him from the poison. They both died together that day. The young man who accompanied us today has his own heart-breaking story. On that same day in 1988, he was 6 years old, on a school bus when a bomb hit the bus and blew up 30 of the 31 children on board. He was the only one to survive. He woke up 3 months later in a hospital in Iran with both legs missing. He has since found new life and has a vibrant testimony. There are 1000 graves shown here and entire families are buried under each grave stone. The village is dotted with unmarked graves of children and mass graves, some containing up to 1500 bodies. It is sad to think of the suffering these people have endured. Our day included a picnic by a stream; you know we're getting acclimated when we thought 103 degrees was rather cool. We were accompanied by two body guards who never left our sides; we didn't think it was necessary but they are very keen to make sure we're safe here. Our picnic food consisted of a huge pot of rice with nuts and raisins, beans with lamb, chicken, salad and ice cold yogurt thinned with water & salt added. I could have done without the yogurt drink! When we left our picnic site, we headed up the mountain and stopped at a place where we could look over into Iran. It was a great and memorable day!