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Mass wedding in Kurdistan Region(Kurdish Globe, The (Iran) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) In Iraqi Kurdistan, couples who are unable to marry due to financial hardship see a mass wedding as their only opportunity. After the Future Centre for Youth Issues, an independent centre, noticed that so many engaged, young couples could not marry because they couldn't afford it, they put a project in motion to assist the couples. The centre discussed the project with several companies, and Asiacell the first mobile telecommunications company in Iraq (established in the city of Suleimaniya in 1999) agreed to help 20 couples. Soon after, ex-Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani liked the project and offered to help 55 couples. "We were very happy when Asiacell accepted our project, because this is the first time a private company helps a nongovernmental organization in Kurdistan Region," said Sirwan Abbas, the centre's relations and media head. This is not the first time a mass wedding has been organized in Kurdistan Region, but it is a first for couples who are already engaged but unable to marry and this time they received far better help. "There was one couple who were engaged for five years but were unable to marry despite many efforts because the young man did not have money," Abbas told "The Kurdish Globe." According to Abbas, in Kurdistan Region the youths' main obstacles to marriage are housing, groom's dowry, and unemployment problems. "The scariest one is the housing problem; so many youths in Kurdistan don't want to get married because they don't have a place to stay," he said. Moreover, he encouraged women not to ask for a large dowry as that is a huge issue in the struggle for Kurdish youths to marry. Today in Kurdistan, most of the pressure regarding marriage is on the men who must provide a dowry to the woman, pay for the wedding party, buy house furniture, and buy or rent a house. Ferhad Mahmud, 28, who married in a mass wedding program and now volunteers for Bright Future Centre organizing other mass weddings, said the program is necessary for poor couples. Mahmud, who helped organize a group wedding for 15 couples in Halabja town in Suleimaniya province, said the young men welcomed the program. Some described it as the best gift they ever received, but some grooms' parents opposed the program. The parents of some of the girls did not let their daughters participate in the mass wedding, saying it was belittling to their daughters. Nevertheless, the daughters enlisted and chose to participate, Mahmud said. He cited the father of one of the girls, who told the bride: "If you want to marry my daughter you should pay for all the expenses by yourself, not through a charity organization. If not, don't marry my daughter." Some couples opposed the wedding being shown on TV, noting that they didn't want to be seen by others during their weddings. (c) 2009 The Kurdish Globe Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |