Blogging in Iraq

Sahmaran's readers might have wondered my long silence. The main reason is the weakness of the Iraqi internet, as well as lack of time.

I was wondering why there are so few bloggers in Iraq when blogging is very popular in Iran. (But not in Turkey - that's also a good question - the answer is not at least the lack of possibilities to use internet. But for some reason Turks seem to be much more talented internet hackers than bloggers.)

After visiting the first time one of the very few internet cafeterias in Hewlêr I understood the reason for the lack of blogging. One must be real hero to blog regularly by the slow and low capacity Iraqi net.

The problems in blogging were of many different character. Just look at this pictures! I do not speak Arabic or Kurdish Sorani dialect. Not to say anything about the difficulties in finding a functioning internet access. Even if someone had computer with in internet access one has to wait that there is electricity and the line is functioning. For example sand storms prevent internet to function in many places.

Now I am back in Finland after three hot and hectic months in the Iraqi part of Kurdistan (and three hours in Habur in Turkey).

I try to put pictures from South Kurdistan to Sahmaran blog (I have almost one thousand pictures from the journey of last spring and three thousand from the autumn journey, not all of them....) but some how there seems very little time for blogging - sorry. I really respect active bloggers, like Hevallo and Mizgin of Rasti, who write much and keep us informed about the situation in Kurdistan. But I am busy with my next book.