AVAŞÎN HÊLÎN

Dêrik – Wehîde Mihemed is a 50-year-old woman living in the Girê Pirê village of Qamishlo Canton’s Girkêlegê town. She is an illiterate woman but she has made many poems to express her feelings, to tell history to children and people.

‘I discovered myself after getting to know Leyla Qasim'

In an interview with NuJINHA, she said she was inspired by the women who left their mark on history. “I got to know Leyla Qasim when I was a child. I was inspired by her because she was a Kurdish woman known for her heroism and her pictures were hung on walls in every house. I discovered myself after getting to know Leyla Qasim. There are hundreds of other women like her, but unfortunately, history does not mention them, their devotion and resistance. Thanks to leader Apo (Abdullah Öcalan) and the Kurdish Freedom Movement, those women are now known and remembered today.”

‘I fulfill my longing for my son in my poems’

Wehîde Mihemed feels very good when she listens to poems and Kurdish songs. “I always listen to poems and songs because I love them. My son was martyred in 2011, when the Rojava Revolution began. Since then, I have expressed my feelings in my poems. I read poems about the resistance of my son and his comrades. I fulfill my longing for my son in my poems,” she said.

‘I take my inspiration from resistance and women pioneers’

“I cannot always read or make poems because poetry is a form of literary art that needs inspiration. When I am impressed by something or think a lot about something, I bring words together in a very short time and make a new poem. My poems are about the resisting people in four parts of Kurdistan and the women leading resistance in all spheres of life. I have poems about the leader (Abdullah Öcalan) because the philosophy of leader Apo is the key for the solution of all problems.”

‘Each poem is a story’

Speaking about her future plans, Wehîde Mihemed said, “Each poem is a story. I want to produce poems about the love for homeland, the sanctity, beauty and wealth of the lands of my country. I want my poems to raise awareness of our people in order to struggle to protect their values.”