By Tessa Manuello

MONTRAL, Canada – British-born Laween Atroshi is doing his bit to promote education in his native Iraqi Kurdistan: In less than a year, this young health professional has shipped 60,000 English books to Kurdistan that were donated by a British charity.

In total, five public institutions in three different regions of Kurdistan have benefited from the free books.

‘’I started this project as I felt I had an ethical and moral duty to help the Kurdish people,” Atroshi told Rudaw. “One of the best ways was to provide them with books to enable them to become free thinkers and educated to a Western standard.”

The books were donated by UK Healthy Planet, a British charity whose programs include an initiative that rescues books destined for disposal.

‘’I approached UK Healthy Planet and asked for books for the Kurdistan region,’’ Atroshi says. ‘’They are a charity that wishes to preserve books from landfills and promote education. They have kindly provided me with the books,” he adds.

Atroshi, who has a degree in biomedical informatics and works for the UK’s National Health Service, organised the collection and shipment on his own initiative, with the help of a team of volunteers.

“The project is totally independent,’’ Atroshi told Rudaw. "I wanted to show that you do not need ‘connections,’ you just need determination and action,’’ he says.

From the last container of 20,000 books, 4,000 were pledged to the University of Halabja, 6,000 to the University of Garmian and the remaining 10,000 to the Garmian Public Library.

Atroshi’s book drive was made possible with the financial support of the Ministry of Youth and Culture of Kurdistan and recipient Kurdish institutions that could afford a donation.

“Most people cannot afford to buy English books because they are expensive, but now they can borrow books to read, or use the academic books to help their studies,” Atroshi says. ‘’It is important to have English books, as English is an international language.”

He plans another collection and shipment for next year.

Originating from the Duhok region in Iraqi Kurdistan, Atroshi deliberately chose to send the donated books to other regions, to serve people regardless his own personal history.

‘’I wanted to show that all Kurds are equal and we must serve all parts of Kurdistan not just our origins,’’ Atroshi says.

Among the first shipment of books, 4,000 were Disney publications, some with playful sound tricks incorporated.

‘’It was fed back to me that a child with cancer had gone to the children’s section and could not stop playing with the books,” Atroshi says. “For the first time both minds -- that of the child and the parents’ -- were occupied and a moment of happiness was created.’’


RUDAW