vniow
Aug 8, 2004, 03:04 PM
BAGHDAD -- Hoda Mohammed Jassem responded with stony disbelief when television crew members arrived at her war-damaged house, thrust a microphone under her nose and announced they were going to rebuild her home.
But her 17-year-old daughter, Abeer Al-Zubair, caught on, and as the TV camera rolled, she broke into a delighted smile.
"I'm feeling like I'm dreaming," she said as a big orange truck piled high with bricks, tools and workmen trundled around the corner to begin reconstructing the family's house.
Welcome to Iraq's first home-improvement show--with an Iraqi twist. Think "This Old House" or "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," except that all the wrecks selected to be featured in this version were destroyed by war, and they belong to people too poor to rebuild them.
"Materials and Labor," as the show is called, airs Friday nights on Al Sharqiya, Iraq's first privately owned TV station, and it's proving to be a big hit. Initial funding for the show came from wealthy donors, and now viewers are being asked to send in contributions.
The homes don't only get new walls, roofs and windows. The revamp includes furniture, fixtures, curtains, carpets, a TV and even plants--everything needed for a family whose home was wrecked by war to start anew.
Just as important, says producer Ali Hanoon, is that the show attempts to capture the lifting spirits of the families as their lives are put back together.
"It's not just a house that we are rebuilding. We are restoring also the psychological well-being of the family," he said. "Our message is that there is still hope."
It's shot fly-on-the-wall style, following every step in the makeover from the moment the family is informed about its good luck to the settling-in process.
The show's bubbly host, Shaima Emad Zubair, features prominently. With her henna-red hair tucked into a white baseball cap, she pitches in to shovel concrete and mix plaster. "In my own home I do nothing," she says, marveling at her own energy. "I have a maid."
There are no viewership figures, but Zubair cites her experiences as proof of the show's popularity. She already was well-known, as the host of a show on state TV under Saddam Hussein's regime. But since "Materials and Labor" went on the air three months ago, she is recognized everywhere.
"My fame has exploded," she said. "It's because we show the reality of life for ordinary Iraqi people."
Reality has intruded more than once. As the team was leaving a house in the volatile Aadhamiya neighborhood, a bomb exploded nearby. A week after that house was finished, one of its new windows was shattered in a firefight between U.S. soldiers and insurgents.
The show's workers installed another window.
"It's a very unstable neighborhood, and it's not out of the question that the house will be destroyed again," Hanoon said. "If that happens, we will rebuild it again."
The first two houses were selected by the team, which scoured neighborhoods on the pretext of preparing a report on war damage. The next homes are being chosen from submissions by viewers, who are invited to apply by e-mail.
The show can't hope to rebuild all the thousands of homes damaged during the war. The program's staff members have focused on houses destroyed during last year's U.S.-led invasion because an American compensation program excludes damage that occurred before the end of combat operations May 1, 2003, said Majid al Samarraee, who selects the houses.
"There are three criteria," he said. "The family has to own the home, they have to have been in it when it was hit, and the damage must have caused problems for their lives."
Jassem's family fit the bill. Her home in the Shalchiya neighborhood was wrecked in April 2003 when American soldiers blew up a truck full of munitions on the street in what they said would be a controlled explosion. But Jassem's home caught fire, and the family fled in panic. Footage of the house before it was rebuilt shows buckled walls, piles of rubble and a drooping ceiling fan that melted in the blaze.
Jassem's husband died a month before the blast, and she had no money to spend on repairs. She and her five children had to move in with neighbors.
Now, freshly unveiled, her white painted house has a smart new kitchen, new furniture and a manicured lawn with a sprinkler, miniature roses and geraniums.
"Before when I breathed it felt like there were stones in the air. Now I can smell only sweetness," Jassem, 49, exclaimed to the cameras as her new house was revealed. "Great countries came here, but they could do nothing for us. Every night I sleep, I thank God for Al Sharqiya."
Al Samarraee wants the show to do more than just make over a few homes. Millions of Iraqis are still waiting for the reconstruction that was promised them, and he hopes to galvanize the government into taking action.
"Nobody has helped these people," he said. "We are a TV station and we did something. It's like we're encouraging the new government to do more."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0408030227aug03,1,3035066.story
But her 17-year-old daughter, Abeer Al-Zubair, caught on, and as the TV camera rolled, she broke into a delighted smile.
"I'm feeling like I'm dreaming," she said as a big orange truck piled high with bricks, tools and workmen trundled around the corner to begin reconstructing the family's house.
Welcome to Iraq's first home-improvement show--with an Iraqi twist. Think "This Old House" or "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," except that all the wrecks selected to be featured in this version were destroyed by war, and they belong to people too poor to rebuild them.
"Materials and Labor," as the show is called, airs Friday nights on Al Sharqiya, Iraq's first privately owned TV station, and it's proving to be a big hit. Initial funding for the show came from wealthy donors, and now viewers are being asked to send in contributions.
The homes don't only get new walls, roofs and windows. The revamp includes furniture, fixtures, curtains, carpets, a TV and even plants--everything needed for a family whose home was wrecked by war to start anew.
Just as important, says producer Ali Hanoon, is that the show attempts to capture the lifting spirits of the families as their lives are put back together.
"It's not just a house that we are rebuilding. We are restoring also the psychological well-being of the family," he said. "Our message is that there is still hope."
It's shot fly-on-the-wall style, following every step in the makeover from the moment the family is informed about its good luck to the settling-in process.
The show's bubbly host, Shaima Emad Zubair, features prominently. With her henna-red hair tucked into a white baseball cap, she pitches in to shovel concrete and mix plaster. "In my own home I do nothing," she says, marveling at her own energy. "I have a maid."
There are no viewership figures, but Zubair cites her experiences as proof of the show's popularity. She already was well-known, as the host of a show on state TV under Saddam Hussein's regime. But since "Materials and Labor" went on the air three months ago, she is recognized everywhere.
"My fame has exploded," she said. "It's because we show the reality of life for ordinary Iraqi people."
Reality has intruded more than once. As the team was leaving a house in the volatile Aadhamiya neighborhood, a bomb exploded nearby. A week after that house was finished, one of its new windows was shattered in a firefight between U.S. soldiers and insurgents.
The show's workers installed another window.
"It's a very unstable neighborhood, and it's not out of the question that the house will be destroyed again," Hanoon said. "If that happens, we will rebuild it again."
The first two houses were selected by the team, which scoured neighborhoods on the pretext of preparing a report on war damage. The next homes are being chosen from submissions by viewers, who are invited to apply by e-mail.
The show can't hope to rebuild all the thousands of homes damaged during the war. The program's staff members have focused on houses destroyed during last year's U.S.-led invasion because an American compensation program excludes damage that occurred before the end of combat operations May 1, 2003, said Majid al Samarraee, who selects the houses.
"There are three criteria," he said. "The family has to own the home, they have to have been in it when it was hit, and the damage must have caused problems for their lives."
Jassem's family fit the bill. Her home in the Shalchiya neighborhood was wrecked in April 2003 when American soldiers blew up a truck full of munitions on the street in what they said would be a controlled explosion. But Jassem's home caught fire, and the family fled in panic. Footage of the house before it was rebuilt shows buckled walls, piles of rubble and a drooping ceiling fan that melted in the blaze.
Jassem's husband died a month before the blast, and she had no money to spend on repairs. She and her five children had to move in with neighbors.
Now, freshly unveiled, her white painted house has a smart new kitchen, new furniture and a manicured lawn with a sprinkler, miniature roses and geraniums.
"Before when I breathed it felt like there were stones in the air. Now I can smell only sweetness," Jassem, 49, exclaimed to the cameras as her new house was revealed. "Great countries came here, but they could do nothing for us. Every night I sleep, I thank God for Al Sharqiya."
Al Samarraee wants the show to do more than just make over a few homes. Millions of Iraqis are still waiting for the reconstruction that was promised them, and he hopes to galvanize the government into taking action.
"Nobody has helped these people," he said. "We are a TV station and we did something. It's like we're encouraging the new government to do more."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0408030227aug03,1,3035066.story
