Iraq: Looking down the barrel of a gun

by Greg Rollins

BAGHDAD - Before I tell you this story, I want to assure you that the following does not happen to Christian Peacemaker Teams staffers often, especially here in Iraq. Please do not worry for any reason.

At the end of our street there is a small gang, the kind with nothing better to do but loiter around shops and in front of homes. Often they are friendly with us, but this evening they had something else on their minds. It was well after dark. The heat rose off the pavement as it remembered the sun. CPTers Sheila Provencher, Stewart Vriesinga, and I were on our way home from the ice cream shop. As we passed the gang at the far end of the block, they stood in our way. Then they surrounded us. I didn't trust their smiles.

One of them pulled out a gun. At first we weren't alarmed. It's common to see guns in Iraq. All Iraqis have at least one for protection - even the church we attend has armed guards. But this gun and the smile on the boy's face were ill-matched.

Stewart and Sheila, who are more friendly than me, tried to break the sudden tension. Stewart gave his usual deep, smoke-stained chuckle. Sheila tried to say something kind - I can't remember what, because no one heard her.

The guy with the gun pointed it at Sheila. A laugh went up from everyone around us. Stewart let out one of those wordless exclamations that said, "Hey, there's no need for that - we're all friends here." My thought was, "I was hoping this wouldn't happen," but I reacted differently. "Allahu Akbar!" ("God is greater") I screamed. Muslims yell this whenever they enter battle or are distressed. I thought it might disorient the guy with the gun, but it didn't. He laughed and, with the gun, squirted Sheila. (Did I mention it was a squirt gun?) He then turned and squirted Stewart and me.

Without waiting to get too wet, the three of us ran to our apartment. We filled balloons with water and grabbed a squirt gun of our own. Sheila and I went back down the street. Stewart went up to the roof and launched two balloons that narrowly missed us. The boys down the street expected us. They had pots full of water. We spent the next while wrestling for water balloons and squirt guns and chasing each other up and down the street. When all was said and done, everyone was wet. The pavement had forgotten much of the sun.

As I said at the beginning, this kind of thing doesn't happen a lot to CPTers, especially here in Iraq, but maybe it should.

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Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative of the historic peace churches (Mennonite, Church of the Brethren, and Quaker), with support and membership from a range of Catholic and Protestant denominations supporting violence-reduction efforts around the world.

This article was published in Sojomail, a free service of Sojourners Magazine.