Salon

I saw a woman getting a facial today. I’m not making this up.

I went to the women’s center in Adhamiyah, where women and children gather by the dozens each day to talk, rest and learn. The center is in a large house and each room offers a different skill – computers, sewing, beauty. One woman was showing how to style hair for a wedding. Another was teaching how to take correct measurements for clothes. And one, sure enough, was putting a face mask on another.

This was my first experience in Iraq where the women far outnumbered the men. A few male soldiers and State Department officials were there. The rest of the group was women, including me and two female officers. The women’s center opened last fall with a state department grant. An Army officer made a visit to see if she could direct some military reconstruction money their way. I think, too, she was curious. We all were.

There were obvious differences between meeting with a bunch of men and meeting with a bunch of women in Iraq. Less cigarette smoke and better treats. More talking and arguing. Less effective air conditioners and reliable power.

A woman called Faten runs the center. She wants to do many things – give women a safe place to go, help them divorce abusive husbands, teach them skills so they can make a little money. Many women are widows after the last six years of violence. Widows get a subsidy from the government, but it’s not the same as having a husband with a job. She offers a matchmaking service for those who want it. At the same time, she tries to help women evict their husbands while keeping their houses. The house, that shelter, is everything. With no income and no man, where would the woman and children live?

“She picked me up off the streets,” one women said, crying. Her husband went mad, she said, selling the house possessions and beating her on the street. Faten got her a lawyer. The husband is out and the woman is in her house. Now she’s trying to learn to read. Another woman said she learned how to make hamburgers. She wants to sell them out of her home. Others are learning to make toothpick holders, knitted purses and decorative frames. “There is only one Faten in all of Iraq,” they said.

Faten’s boss was also there. She’s a lawyer and a local political official who oversees five such centers in Baghdad. She recently got an award from Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama. She also picked a fight with Faten in front of the military officers and state officials. Faten operates like a caseworker, bringing women into the

center and giving them lessons they can use. Her boss wants these women to be empowered. Faten wants them to earn money, not bruises.

Later, I asked the translator about the argument. “I don’t like her at all,” he said of Faten’s boss. She

talked down to everyone and was jealous of the attention Faten gets. He also said he’d never seen anything like the women’s center. He’s lived in Baghdad his whole life.

p.s. I love the alphabet primer. My favorite letters are j, k, and x.