Years ago In Duhok city in Iraqi Kurdistan region, I met a Syrian refuge named Mahmoud Euro who has since made a sizable impression on my life. Originally from Qamishli, Mahmoud came to Iraq and found himself on the streets. However, from the minute I met Mahmoud, I knew he had something special inside of him — a joy and a positivity that surprised me. Mahmoud affectionately adopted the nickname “Euro” because it refers to his inmate relationship with money and the fact that he often finds himself sitting near the exchange offices. This gives you some insight into his lighthearted personality because he enjoys this nickname, he does not take offense to it. Mahmoud also has speech and walking impediments but these do not stifle his joy. In fact, sometimes I see him sing, dance, and succeed at making those around him happy despite the fact that he is a homeless street beggar with physical handicaps. I noticed his positive outlook on life almost immediately, despite his circumstances. Mahmoud has taught me that joy does not have to depend on what is going on around you — it comes from within.
Over the years, a sort of friendship has developed between Mahmoud and I that I truly treasure. We have some rituals that our friendship entertains. When I go to the bazaar and see him, I say hi, we ask about each other’s day and families and then he asks me to give him a thousand Iraqi Dinar (equal to about one dollar) or sometimes just a quarter, and then he asks me to buy him tea. Different cultures have different ways of specially greeting dear friends. In Tibet, you may stick out your tongue, in Yemen, you may bump noses, in Zimbabwe, you may clap your hands. However, in our area of the world, it is acceptable to greet someone by standing and kissing them on the cheek. This is a form of respect and Mahmoud eventually came to do this to me as his special “VIP” greeting. Oftentimes, he would even say, “You are my brother”.
I discovered that Mahmoud has a family that is also refugee: parents who live in the Domiz Syrian Refugee Camp. He also has a brother who lives in Germany that sent him money in his favorite currency — the Euro. Aside from having speaking and walking difficulties, Mahmoud has opened up to me about his life inside the refugee camp. He told me about being harassed by the camps “prostitutes” who wanted to sleep with him but he refused because he is a God-fearing man. Yet, all the while, he exudes joy.
Mahmoud is also a generous man. Both he and I have a strong love for tea so one day he offered to take me to a nearby tea station to treat me to tea. I happily agreed and even captured the moment on film.
However, it was disheartening to see what came next. Once we finished our tea, Mahmoud offered the shop owner the money he owed for our tea but the man refused to take it. Apparently, this is yet another struggle Mahmoud has to endure: the fact that people sometimes do not take him seriously because he is a “poor man”, even when he has the money to pay for the things he wants. In this instance, Mahmoud took a water out of the nearby refrigerator and left money for the shop owner to find. On a separate occasion, I went with him to buy a new MP3 player since the one he had unfortunately broke. Mahmoud likes to use his MP3 player to play music and dance so when I asked him about his player, he said that it was broke, and immediately reached for his pocket and gave me the $10 to pay for the new player because he knew the store owner would not accept his money because he is a “poor man”. After we purchased a new player with different brand, he didn’t like it, therefore we had to replace it with another one. Luckily for us, I was able to spot a player hat is similar to the one he had before.
The joy of Mahmoud is a blessing to me. His love for people near and dear to him is obvious in the many keychains he carries, bearing his name and the names of others he cares for. Mahmoud has taught me that joy does not have to depend on circumstances. He faces daily trials by having no home, not knowing where his next meal may come from, speech and walking impediments, and the disrespect of people around him. Despite all of these struggles, Mahmoud is full of joy, generosity, love, and kindness and has opened my eyes to what being joyful really means .
This piece is written in conjunction with American freelance artist Suzanne Griffin.
