"My dad wants me to see the Iraq that he saw and it makes him sad that I won’t, so he doesn’t want me to go right now, but I am hoping in the future that I can. He tells me all of his stories; I feel that narrating is what keeps them alive. I feel the act of making kleicha (a traditional Iraqi pastry) creates memories of Iraq for both of us. When we make kleicha together, he shares his memories of when he was younger of people making it in Iraq. He learned how to make it himself. Traditionally, it’s women who are making it, but he taught it and then he taught it to me. It’s like a craft and he told me to teach it to my children and my sisters’ children in the future and carry on that memory. It is a memory that is shared in a different way, but I hope to see it in the future when I hopefully visit Iraq one day."
Yasmin