Here we are, four hostages to love and friendship, as against those poor hostages who are victims of Iraqi terrorism," remarked Amaar Adil, who was at the Art of Living Foundation's Bangalore centre during the hostage crisis in Iraq.
In Ballad, Iraq, close to where Saddam Hussein was eventually captured, the foundation had programmes conducted entirely in burqa. It is now the only external NGO active in Iraq after the exit of the Red Cross.
"The fear of death was all around us," says volunteer Mulki about working in Iraq in those conditions. "But we were so high on the experience of getting people transformed that we never felt it.
"Many of them told us that their namaaz became more meaningful and deep after they did workshops with us.
"The tragedy of Iraq is that the people have freedom from Saddam, but they don't know how to use that freedom. They have been completely taken over by a fake American culture."
The foundation conducted many programmes for the Iraqi government too, like working with bureaucrats.
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