We MUST not pay $1 for the books or the dorms

by Afan Osman

As we all know that AUI-S has asked us to pay $400 for the dorms and the books. As a friend of all of you, I want to express my opinions if you guys let me. The amount of money is really very much for many of us, and it absolutely increases next year. As you guys know, this is Kurdistan, no so many people are rich enough to pay all of this money for studying.

This is not a developed or rich country, but it is a really poor region. There are many illiterate people in the country, and there are also many students who can't study at the universities because of money. We need to decrease the alliterated-people rate in the country not to increase the number of these people. And this new AUI-S policy will increase the number of those people now or in the future.

Students from different devastated parts of the country have come to Sulaimani to study at AUI-S. Their destroyed cities have no advanced universities to study, but all they have is AUI-S. Such a sad and unbelievable story it is to live in a poor country and pay thousands of dollars to study. What do they think of us? This is Kurdistan, and this is Iraq.

How is it possible for a poor student, who does not have a job, to pay $400? Who will agree to receive money from those orphans whose fathers were killed at Iraqi wars or at the Civil War?! How does a humanitarian think of getting money from those students who lost all of their childhood and life because of working for money or to buy new clothes for their schools? I don't know how a rich and millionaire government wants us to pay for a dorm or some books? This government is able to provide the money for all of us. We are Kurdistani or Iraqi students, and we have the right to be at the government dorms and pay no money for the school stuff. I blame both the university and KRG or the Central Government to ask us for that money.

It is an unbelievable and unfair requirement. We need to talk with both AUI-S and KRG or Iraqi Government to solve this new issue. That is not just because we can't pay the money, but it is also for how we can solve our problems. That is not just because we are Iraqis or Kurdistanis, but it is also the way we can stop the corruption in the future. That is not only because we are students, but it is also the way we should choose to stop anyone who wants to ask money from us. Last year I was thinking about a project to ask Dr. Barham to give some salary for the dorm students. Alas, this year he asks for that salary, and we are supposed to pay money.

My dear AUI-S students, why don't we begin a campaign to refuse to pay the money? We can change our country if we work for it today, so the campaign is our job now. Some of AUI-S students will meet both the university admission and KRG or Iraqi Government to ask them to regret and solve that issue. As it is said, "If not we, so who, and If not now, then when?" I hope we can all make succeed!

 Afan Osman is a Business Administration Freshman at the American University of Iraq-Sulaimani. He is one of the managers of the We Will not Pay a Penny Campaign