Cultural Center in Sulaimani bridges generational and geographical differences

D. Morrow
14 October 2014
Sulaimani

Deep in the heart of the Sulaimani bazaar, tucked up a narrow staircase, is the Save the Children Kurdistan Cultural Center. Located in a converted municipal building, the space is bright and quiet, with old newspapers and magazines lining quiet reading alcoves framed with stained glass. The center is, “a bridge between younger and older generations,” says Senior Research Officer Lydia Shaswar, who has been working with Kurdistan Save the Children for decades. 

Originally designed, with the neighboring children’s center, as a safe space for street kids to participate in educational extra-curricular activities, the center has grown as Kurdistan has changed. Lydia remarked on the parallel between Kurdistan in the early 90s and today, with the influx of displaced families and refugees subtly having an impact on the city. 

What is essential, Lydia believes, is creating long-term programming to assist children growing up in the heart of the bazaar. While immediate relief is important, there must more durable solutions for children living here. Since the fall of Mosul in June, the Cultural Center has noticed an increase in the number of families from outside of Sulaimani finding refuge in the bazaar. The Cultural Center invites all displaced families for a free meal and long-term use of the facilities.

The children’s center, located across a narrow alleyway from the Cultural Center, is a large, bright building that caters to up to 150 children from age six to 14 regularly. Though it aims to attract vulnerable children and those living on the street, the center’s activities and programming are open to all children. School had just begun on the day we visited, so the wide hallways were empty, but bright paintings, drawings, sculptures and other art works lines all of the walls and rooms. A large theatre area puts on productions, and the music and drum rooms feature traditional instruments like hand drums and flutes in addition to pianos and keyboards. 

The Cultural Center does outreach at Arbat Refugee Camp and is currently working on a center in the Raparin area of Sulaimani that is specifically for children with special needs, something that is sorely lacking in this part of Kurdistan.

In the meantime, the center is a quiet refuge is an otherwise busy bazaar, and a small haven to reflect and read and learn, and for different generations to share their experiences through art. “This is the real Suli,” says Lydia.