me with All not All with me!
an old Kurdish proverb, "you with all not all with you"!
This was the entrance, I believe this is the only place I have seen the Kurdish sign on top and then the Arabic and English ones beneath it! It is centre number one in UK' three centers. They have strangly or strategically as Iam not sure which one, located the three at the three big cities where most of Kurds live in Birmingham and its surroundings (not Manchester or Glasgow)
We were not allowed to take in cameras by security ppl so all I got was these two fotos, I know I am not a good photographer but that is my best! I actually took some fotos with my mobile but it had to be replaced for faulty and I forgot to download the pictures before giving it back to the delivery guy (very stupid!)
The Writing by the Halabja Tree at Piccadily Gardens in Manchester City Center:
May be that had the greatest effect, or the main reason for me to vote was:
This is the first time in my life I trust Kurdish leaders while I am alive, so I WILL VOTE because I have to trust them!
I stayed over night in Manchester, to do my court work, meet with friends and for friday to go and register to vote! coincidently the friend I was visiting had a new friend who was a registration officer at the Mancherster election center, added to another friend who is also working there, we had two registration officers having dinner with us, so they told us so much about the work they do. Everything they were telling us, was either fun or joy, they were feeling so great about it.
They told us that the Kurds working there had forced the Arabs to remove the Baathist flag or they will not work, so they had removed the flag at the center placed by the Arab officers.
We were five people when we went there, my best friend (14 years friendship, and counting) another three very close friends, we met at Manchester city center where the Halabja tree is (we actually laid some flowers on it after cleaning the wrting) then we went to Oldham roat, 4 stops after the chinese town (this was how we were directed by another friend of mine who is a registration offficer there)
This was the entrance, I believe this is the only place I have seen the Kurdish sign on top and then the Arabic and English ones beneath it! It is centre number one in UK' three centers. They have strangly or strategically as Iam not sure which one, located the three at the three big cities where most of Kurds live in Birmingham and its surroundings (not Manchester or Glasgow)We saw ppl with their Kurdish clothes, they told us that most of those who register are Kurds and they were expecting much more on the weekend.
I still do not understand why they call ppl twice, as there would not be any thing to be done with the registered names apart from telling us which station we have to report to in the center we have registered us, I think it could have been one round and would not make much difference!It would be off 5 days voting than all these days register and some 2 days voting period! All I showed them was my UK driving licence which says I am Iraqi and they gave me a slip which I have to have when I go back to vote which is has got probably a Unique number!
We were not allowed to take in cameras by security ppl so all I got was these two fotos, I know I am not a good photographer but that is my best! I actually took some fotos with my mobile but it had to be replaced for faulty and I forgot to download the pictures before giving it back to the delivery guy (very stupid!)Today I saw two buses with some cars leaving to Manchester from Leeds with Kurdistan flags and Kurdish cloths and stuff, I have asked for some fotos to put them here from one of the organisers of the trip to register!
We are planing to go to vote next week with more ppl rather than travelling alone! I will get some more photos!
I believe Weekends will be too crowded for the place, as it was very small comparing to the 34 stations based in it, I believe it would not be easy to manage and control on the eleciton days either! I have to say it was very well organised!
The Writing by the Halabja Tree at Piccadily Gardens in Manchester City Center:
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