NURNBERG, Germany,— Dekan Jalal, a 26-year old Kurdish woman was born in Sulaimani, a city in Iraqi, Kurdistan. At the age of 10 years, she had a very bad truck accident and she lost her right leg and spent almost 3 years in the hospital. After dozens of operations, she could now finally start a new life in Germany.

She never wanted to give up and never knew that girls with a handicap get such a hard life in every kind of way in life. She never wanted to get depressed and always tried her best to stay strong and her biggest mission is to help other girls.

Dekan says she wanted to show other girls that health is one of the most important things in life. “Many girls in the world today forget what life really means, it is not only about having good looks and a perfect body”, Dekan told Ekurd.

She is a co-author of a successful novel published in Germany “Regakaman, Geboren in Kurdistan” (our way- born in Kurdistan) with the assistance of her mother. Dekan says, “it was a very big dream of mine and finally I did it”.

Below is the interview Dekan Jalal gave to Ekurd.net:

Q: Tell us about your childhood in Iraqi Kurdistan?

Dekan: I was born in Sulaimani Kurdistan, but I did not really have a childhood there, I was a year old when we left Kurdistan in 1992 because of Saddam Hussein. My parents were on the run for 2 years from Iran to Turkey and then to Moscow. After spending one year in Russia my mother and I came to Germany. I was 4-years old.

Q: How did you feel after the accident and who supported you mentally?

Dekan: After my accident, back in August 2000 in Germany I had only my mother. She was the one who gave me a reason to be alive. It was very hard for me to wake up from coma and to see that I had lost my leg. It was a very big shock to me. But thank God I made it in my life and with the help of my mother I was able to handle it. She helps me always and every time.

Q: What are the reasons behind writing a book?

Dekan: It was my mother’s dream for a long time. Back in 2014 we were in Sulaimani and she had a very hard year because of her family, and she was very sad and she came to me and said “I wish I could write a book and share my story” so I wrote from this moment on. I wrote it all on my old broken laptop.

Q: How do you compare the quality of life of Kurdish women in Kurdistan unders Islamic rules and traditions with that of European women?

Dekan: There is a very big difference because in the EU you are free and have a voice as a woman, you can change your life, work and have our own money without a man’s help. You can be who you want to be and how you want to be without being judged by all your family or other people. In Kurdistan it’s very hard to be who you want to be as a girl or a woman, over there it’s like there is nothing like that, the meaning of being free is worth everything in life.

But when we say in Kurdistan a woman wants to be free, it is interpreted that they want to do something bad. There is no space of thinking that she wants to be a strong woman. It’s always she wants to be a dirty woman and she wants to do bad things. That is one of the biggest problems. As soon as a woman says ´I would like to live my life´´ it means immediately“ Oh she wants to be ´FREE´” in a very bad way. No one thinks about the dreams, feelings and wishes they may have. That’s what we have in EU. We can make choices, we can be who we want to be without being judged by everyone… and just be free, and live in peace.

The women need more power and faith in themselves to stand and fight for their freedom in Kurdistan. Because most of the women in Kurdistan live in such a violence of the man’s world and the Islamic rules which are not really the truth. The only way they use the Islamic rules are in order to hold all and everything under their control. Because to me, Islam means nothing but peace.

But unfortunately, it’s very hard to make women raise their voices and start a real change without being judged for the rest of their lives.

Also, there is the other side, a woman alone can do it all; work, study, live a life she wants to as my mother did all her life but it’s definitely not a better life, but as my mother always says it’s all worth it because we are free from all the rules and the falsehood. We can be who we want to be. Freedom means everything in life.

Q. What you think of the quality of life of handicap people in Kurdistan?

Dekan: Back in 2014 I was in Sulaimani and I had the amazing opportunity to work with one of the big handicap centers named Emergency which is owned by the amazing Gino Strada. He made this hospital only for people who lost their arms and legs. It’s really great to see that they can have the chance to walk and take their own steps. I cried because I was so happy that the little children could walk and could feel how it is to walk again with their prostheses.

And Gino Strada organization is giving them jobs with their handicaps so they have a purpose in life and not get lost because of their handicap. Because the Kurdish community is not really helping them to get a purpose in their life. They only feel sympathy, and this is very wrong for someone who is a handicap. They need to hear motivational things to receive more power and know that there is a life also with a very hard handicap.

Q: How your book is helping others?

Dekan: Because of the truth, the reality and honesty I share with the readers. It’s what many girls feel and many girls have to struggle with in the world. Why do we girls need to look like someone that we aren’t or why must we run after the rules the media or the magazines are making? And why is it such a big deal to be different? why should we let the world and other people who mean nothing to us have a control over our lives?

And I’ve been through it all and because of all the pain I saw in my life it made me grow and I learnt so much from all my past, but still I am very thankful. And for other young girls it is very inspiring to see that also other young girls struggle so they can feel strong again and start to have faith and feel good again. and that is very important for a girl or a woman. And I always say ´´if Nelson Mandela could not change the world, no one can´´ we can only change ourselves.

Q: Has the book been translated to Kurdish or other languages, or are there any plans to do so?

Dekan: We are about to plan it, and it’s very exciting that we have the choice to translate it in into Swedish, Kurdish and English and we don´t know yet which one it would be.

The book is available at Amazon

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