“My dream has always been to have my own small restaurant,” Musaib Joma’a told us. “And now my dream has come true,” he stated with a smile on his face. After 20 years of hard work, and with assistance from IOM’s Community Revitalization Programme (CRP), Musaib has become the proud co-owner of a small restaurant known as “Mosul Bacha” in the city of Bartella, not far from Mosul.

“I always liked cooking,” he told us. “Even when I was a little boy I spent lots of time in the kitchen, helping my mother prepare meals for our family. For me, being her kitchen assistant was much more fun than playing football in the street with my friends.”

Musaib started working in restaurants when he was 14 years old. He first apprenticed at one of the most famous restaurants serving traditional food in Mosul. It was here that he learned the trade and the art of the kitchen.

“I was taught so many things at this restaurant,” he recalled. “Well actually, first they had me washing dishes…” he said with laughter. “But a little bit later they asked me to work with the chef, and to help him prepare the vegetables and meat. Before I knew it, I was crafting dishes alongside the other cooks for customers at this well-renowned restaurant.”

“After I turned 20,” Musaib recalled, “I felt like I had gained the skills and experience to open my own place. And I didn’t want to do it just for the money.” He continued, “I wanted my own restaurant because I felt like I could produce better food if I had the freedom of selecting the ingredients and designing the menu.”

At the time however, Musaib did not have enough money to pursue this dream. Having to support his parents and his family with his modest pay, he couldn’t afford it. “So I started saving,” he stated. “Every month, after taking care of all of my family’s expenses, I put whatever was left aside.”

But then the war came. And in 2006, Musaib and his family were forced to leave Mosul. As Shabak minorities, he and his family came under ethnic and religious persecution from illegal militias. “Three of my cousins were killed in less than two weeks time,” he told us. “I was also harassed by rebel armed groups, and only narrowly escaped being killed as well.”

After this experience, Musaib and his family packed up their belongings, took the money that had been saved for the restaurant, and fled to Bartella, a city nearby which was much safer and had a significant Shabak population. “It was one of the worst times in my life,” he stated. “I lost my job and my home overnight. Three of my family members had been killed. My wife and my parents were depending on me… I had that little savings I had been putting aside, but it only went so far.”

After six months, Musaib and his family exhausted all of his savings, and they could not afford to pay rent anymore. They were kicked out of their apartment and ended up on the streets. “We eventually found shelter in Al Ghadir camp on the outskirts of the city,” he recalled. “Together with 50 or so other Shabak families, we lived illegally in an improvised shantytown with no electricity...”

“We had nothing. No home, no money, and barely enough to eat. Every now and then I worked an odd job for some side cash, but it was far from enough. It was the longest 5 years of my life.” While staying at Al Ghadir, Musaib eventually found a job as a line cook at “Mosul Bacha,” a small restaurant in Bartella’s city center. The restaurant was struggling, poorly organized, and didn’t have much business, however. “Earnings, when they did come, were meager,” Musaib recalled.

Despite this, Musaib carefully and expertly prepared each dish. And after a few months, the community began to take notice of the restaurant’s new standards and improvement. Tables began to fill up, larger orders were placed, and most importantly, the restaurant began to turn a profit.

Around the same time, Musaib was offered a grant from IOM’s Community Revitalization Programme (CRP). CRP offers in-kind grants, job training, and other types of livelihood assistance to vulnerable individuals throughout Iraq, based upon needs and skills assessments conducted by IOM staff.

Naturally, Musaib was found to possess extensive cooking experience and talent, and was awarded with equipment such as a refrigerator, freezer, stove, and shelving, in order to run a small eatery. Through IOM’s Business Development Services (BDS) initiative, Musaib also received training on the basics of business management, bookkeeping, and financial practices.

With his new tools in hand, Musaib notified his boss Mohammed that he was planning to leave, and that he hoped to start his own restaurant nearby. Upon hearing this, Mohammed promptly asked Musaib to stay, and offered him full partnership as a co-owner of Mosul Bacha. “He said we could pool our resources, expand the menu, and double our space by taking over the store next door. It belonged to his cousin and had been vacant for some time,” Musaib told us.

Musaib thought Mohammed’s offer over, and decided to accept. “I figured that the equipment and training provided by IOM, in combination with the increased space and customer base, would make Mosul Bacha even more successful,” Musaib described. “So we went for it.”

“And thus far, business has been quite steady. We bring in about $200/week, split everything 50/50, and have already been asked to cater a few events,” he reported. “I’m hoping things will pick up even more though once the weather cools down… Pacha, tashreeb, qalya, and the other dishes we serve are more winter dishes than summer dishes.”

“I am so grateful to IOM for providing me with the opportunity to pursue this dream,” Musaib told us. “I am especially thankful for the financial training I was given. I knew nothing about the practicalities of running my own business before.”

He continued, “Life really has improved for me over the past year. I mean, things aren’t perfect, but I have been able to make enough money to get my family out of Al Ghadir and back to our home in Mosul. Even though the city is not 100% safe, and I have to commute to Bartella for work, things are much better than they were before.

When asked if there was anything else he wanted to add, Musaib paused for a minute and then replied, “In all honesty, I just keep thinking about the other families living in that camp on the outskirts of Bartella. I am so lucky I got out of there… if there is anyway you can help them to do the same, it would really change the lives of a lot of people, just like me, who are in need.”