I came across these the other day. Each tells it own story.
This is the gentle old man who owned the tiny sweetshop opposite my hotel in Souk Saruja. He sold sweets and biscuits mainly. In the picture, he’s wearing his cap. He put it on specially after I’d asked if I might take a picture of him. Every day, just before mid-day prayers, he shut up shop and walked slowly up the narrow street to the local mosque which was called the Mosque of the flowers. This was a very peaceful part of Damascus.
This man had a little independent business selling hot coffee from his bicycle. he had a small woodburning stove in the front basket. You can see the fine chimney taking the smoke away. The canvas carriers held fuel for the stove. He had wraps of paper for the coffee and the sugar and a water container as well.
I thought his whole arrangement was great. He is master of his universe. I did wonder if he needed a licence to trade. Probably an unofficial one. The man is standing by the wall of the old city of Damsacus, capital of Syria.
This is Baghdad. It’s on the wall of Baghdad’s oldest university which is older than Oxford – by a few years.
The decoration show the swastika and is an indication of Iraq’s ancient cultural ties with India where the swastika originates.
I was in Baghdad shortly before the US and the UK invaded Iraq under the mistaken belief that Saddam Hussein had an arsenal of nuclear weapons.
Mary Russell 