Striving to keep his profession alive, man spends half his life blacksmithing

Variety 12:51 PM - 2021-06-21

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Qadir Faraj, 65, has been working as a blacksmith for 38 years and he will continue to work so that this does completely vanish.

 

Faraj lives in Warmawa sub-district in Sharazur district of Sulaymaniyah province and he has inherited this profession from his ancestors.

 

Qadir Faraj Asinger (Kurdish word for blacksmith) has begun working as a blacksmith with his father in 1983.

 

"I had worked as an assistant to my father at first and the worked with my brother Hassan for two years," Faraj said.

 

"Hassan gave up on this work but I continued," he added.

 

Most of his family and relatives are blacksmiths. Haider is his brother and works as a blacksmith in Darbandikhan district-Sulaymaniyah. There is also his cousin Ahmed who is a blacksmith in Warmawa. 

 

"Most of my brothers and family members are blacksmiths," Faraj said.

 

He makes many things such as sickles, axes, knives, and many other things.

 

Qadir works from 7 am (local time) until sunset and says that working with iron is very hard, especially in the summer, "we can't put any cooling equipment, because we sweat as we work in front of the fire, but if marketing is good, we won't mind the heat, we will still do our job."

 

The import of goods from Iran and Turkey has slowed their work and demand for their products has significantly decreased.

 

"People do not visit us as in previous years, they purchase imported goods, even though the imported goods last only a few years, but our products will remain the same for a long time," Faraj said.

 

Blacksmithing is one of the historical jobs that is heading towards extinction. In the past years, you could find 2-4 blacksmiths in any district that you would visit, but nowadays, these professions are vanishing due to the progress of life.

 

 

 

Reported by Muhammad Abdulrahman

PUKmedia