Looking at the narration; "My house is here"

The reality of war from an eyewitness

Elham Saleh
Translated by Fazel Shirzad

2016-4-10

War is a grim story. There is no different where it is occurred in the world, it is bitter and painful anyway. Common people enter unintentionally from an everyday life to living in a state of war. Some people continue their life and some ones involve themselves in war. Not only as a fighter, but also as common people who feel the consequences of the war wholeheartedly.

 The eight-year Iraqi imposed war against Iran, like all wars, was in own difficulties and special conditions. Some persons also began to express their memories about eight years of Holy Defense.These memoirs, in the frame of oral history, reveal problems and events what happened for Iranian people in the past years.

 The book “My house is here”¹ is a narration of war, the story of a lady who is living with her husband and child now, but she was just a 17-18 years-old child of family in those years. When the war began, “Afsaneh Ghazizadeh” involved herself in war. She was a member of the Islamic Association of Students. Joining to Basij (volunteer army) organization, she led to cooperation in a course of intensive military training. She also had passed the course of Emergency relief (social worker) activities.

•  The book “My house is here” is about the holy defense time in oral history field. A historical event that Ghazizadeh will tells it, that she was a 17- 18-year-old girl in the beginning of the Iraqi imposed war against Iran.

  So that she went to public Mosque of Khoramshahr to help people by first signs of war. Memories that are told about the Mosque show the presence and help of people in defense of the Khoramshahr city: “Since that day until a week, we were going through all times in the mosque. The people don’t have enough ammunition there. We should spend much time to make a Molotov cocktail; we washed clothes, made Bandages and sterile gauze, cooked foods and collected medicines from homes and pharmacies”.

  Cooking and making Molotov cocktails was simplest work of Ghazizadeh in wartime.  At those days, she experienced a lot of work, like baptism and digging the grave: “We went to the graveyard; there were a lot of picks and shovels. Some men were working there. We took pick and shovel, and started to dig grave heavily. In the first place, the harsh wood handle of shovel and pick injured my hands. One of the men helped me while digging a grave was not completed still, and he wanted me to entrust work to him. We were staying at graveyard until evening, and were doing scattered works that seemed to be there.

  She was just a girl from a family of Khoramshahr city who entered unwittingly in difficult situation of war. She repeatedly emphasized in the book that situations will change the human behavior: “I could not eat food without a fork, but when Khoramshahr city was under siege, we went to public Mosque and saw all were eating the food (mincemeat stew) by hand in one big dish. I was eating some piece of bread to fill our stomach for a few days. But we found we couldn’t endure in this situation and I was feeling weak gradually and it effected on my work.

 Ghazizadeh was in strong morale, but it is natural that condition was often difficult and trying for her as well. “The first few days were horrible. My eyes have not used to cut hands and feet, blood and filth. I was constantly nauseating. All red food made sick up me. By that time, I couldn’t remember I had felt sick. But I was hospitalized for a week there, my blood pressure had fallen. Because I had not eaten so much my body became weak. I just ate apple and pear compote. Even I was suffering from intestinal discomfort, because water was polluted.”

  Memoires of this book is begun almost from the Iraqi imposed war against Iran, those days that she cooked in the public Masque of Khoramshahr, was doing Social work, digging the grave, those that she was Sewing, health caring, nursing, those days that she experienced different works and became a assistant surgeon, until those days she got married and became a mother for her child. Chapter Six of the book goes ahead fast. The narrator at the end of the chapter seven will review her current life of some people who were familiar with her.

• The book “My house is here” is about the holy defense time in oral history field. A historical event that Ghazizadeh will tells it, that she was a 17- 18-year-old girl in the beginning of the Iraqi imposed war against Iran and was educating. But he entered suddenly into conditions that there is no avoidance. She could escape from this situation, but it was unlike her behavior and morale. She stayed there along with other and helped.

  The book “Here is my house" speaks about difficult situations and people who lived very simple, although it is a little unbelievable now, but all these words are true.

 The book is important in the sense that narrates the memoirs of a girl.  The book “Here is my house" should be read line by line and section by section. The contents of the book cannot be simply ignored. There is special features as well, no special style, layout and graphics, it just consist of memoirs, but the memoirs represents eight years of Holy Defenses; and persons, such as Afsaneh Ghazizadeh that were eye witnesses of the events, were able to express realities. This issue causes the book to be considered particularly.

 The narrator of the book expresses the conditions of the war as well, and also speaks about his feelings. She avoids of attributes and using these attributes for persons. The narrator tries to be impartial, and actually she remains impartial as well. She tells her story, and addressee is considered as responsible for judgment. This respect for perception and judgment of addressee from narrator and also interviewer is laudable.

The book “My house is here" is a grim memory of the war, this book speaks about difficult situations and people who lived very simple, although it is a little unbelievable now, but all these words are true. The book “My house is here" is reality of war that is stated too simple.

“My house is here": memoirs of Afsaneh Ghazizadeh, interviewer and editor: Golestan Jafarian, Sureh Mehr Publications, Fifth Edition, 1393 (2014), page 116.