For the duration of her stay in Dohuk, Kurdistan, Claire will be giving daily training sessions for the nurses at the city's 200-bed public hospital, which is also a teaching hospital.
Last Tuesday, April 9, Claire had the day off as it was a Kurdish national holiday. Every April 9 the Kurds celebrate the anniversary of the liberation of Bagdad and the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Claire spent the holiday with some fellow MedGlobal volunteers seeing the countryside around the Dohuk area.
They'd just returned from a trip Lalesh, a small mountain village about 50 miles from Dohuk.
When Claire and her friends arrived at the entrance they were warmly welcomed by the keeper of the temple, who allowed them to take pictures. However they were told to take off their shoes, as it is required that one be barefooted inside the temple. Next to the temple door there is a sculpture of a black snake, the symbol of wisdom for Yazidis. |
Claire said everyone in the family was happy to meet some Americans.