ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - On the Kurdistan Region border with Iran, Kurdish kolbars - semi-legal porters - carry heavy goods across rugged terrain, driven by economic hardship and a lack of alternatives in Iran’s Kurdish areas (Rojhelat).
Many of them are elderly, including women, who continue to carry out this demanding work despite their advanced age.
Amina Rizi, a woman kolbar, described the pressures she faces.
“Life is very hard. Many things have become so expensive. A kilo of sugar is 500,000 to 600,000 Tomans [$4.16 to $4.99], and rice is 2.5 million [$20.80 per kilo]. Oh, I can’t afford it. My legs ache, my hands ache. What can I do? The government gives me nothing. Otherwise, I swear to God, I wouldn’t want to come here. But what choice do I have? I must come; I am forced to,” she told Rudaw on January 26.
Earnings from transporting goods remain modest. Carrying a 15-kilogram load typically brings in around 1.5 million tomans, roughly $11, barely enough to cover daily expenses.
Muhammed Amin Mahmoodpour, who works with his wife Abdullahi, talked about the hard life they face: “Our age is not for being here and working as Kolbars. At this stage of life, until we pass on to the next world, we should be sitting down, resting, and focusing on our prayers and worship.