In November of 2003, my husband and I were in Amman, Jordan and we met some activists in the lobby of our hotel who convinced us to take a trip to Baghdad .
We packed our bags, wrote some emails, and took off for the 10 hour journey to the capital of Iraq. We had heard horror stories of journalists, aid workers, and military that had been tortured and killed en route to Baghdad. Hearing all of this, we still were willing to take that risk.
Heck! When were we gonna get a chance to go to IRAQ. There was a war going on, there were bombings going on, everything was going on in this place. So we drove into Baghdad right smack in the middle of the day and immediately noticed it wasn't as bad as the media portrays it to be. It looked like a very normal city. Traffic jams, millions of people, and smog. I observed university students going to school, mothers going shopping, kids playing, and something I never expected . . . smiling faces. After all that the people of Iraq had gone through, a lunatic leader, war after war after war, and an American invasion. I was quite surprised to see joy and hope in the air. So there we were, sitting in a nice mall in the center of Baghdad, surrounded by super friendly Iraqis, discussing life and familly, all while enjoying an ice cream sunday.
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