From America to Rawanduz: Andrew Billy Finds a Second Home in Kurdistan

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - When Andrew Billy boarded a plane for the Kurdistan Region in 2020, he expected to stay for three weeks. Instead, he arrived in Erbil just as COVID-19 restrictions brought travel to a halt. What began as a short visit became a seven-month stay and, eventually, a lasting connection with Rawanduz and its people.

Known locally as "Andrew Riwandizi," Billy told Kurdistan24 about the friendships he found in the Region and the family he misses in America.

His flight, he recalled, was among the last to land before the airport closed. Erbil's usually busy streets felt deserted. Taxis and buses were unavailable, leaving him with few options for reaching Rawanduz, the mountain town he had already hoped to visit.

"Yeah, so those three weeks ended up turning into, you know, my first seven months in Kurdistan," he said.

With the airport closed and public transport unavailable, Billy briefly considered walking to Rawanduz. The distance looked manageable on a map, but the journey was more complicated than he imagined. Fortunately, he managed to visit during his first few weeks.

It proved more than a tourist visit.

"When I first arrived to Rawanduz I knew this is where I, I was going to live," Billy recalled. He described the residents as special and said the friendships he has formed are ones he expects to keep throughout his life.

The Pull of a Small Town

Rawanduz appealed to Billy partly because it reminded him of where he grew up. Coming from a small town in America, he was drawn to the closeness of a community in which relationships are central to daily life. The surrounding landscape gave him another reason to stay.

"And then of course, it's hard to overlook the beauty of the area," he said, placing the town's natural setting alongside its sense of community among the things that first attracted him.

But it is the hospitality he speaks about most warmly. Billy said local families have welcomed him into their homes and treated him as one of their own. One friend's father, he explained, even calls him his son.

"Rawanduz for me it's like a, like a second home," he said. Such gestures, he added, have made him feel comfortable and accepted, even far from the place where he was raised.

Billy's relationship with the town also sits alongside a lifelong connection to carpentry. Both his father and grandfather worked in the trade, and he has spent much of his own life practicing it. Of the lessons passed down through his family, one has remained especially important.

"Don't be afraid to make a mistake," his grandfather taught him, Billy recalled.

That willingness to learn also appears in his efforts to speak Kurdish. Billy readily acknowledges that his Kurdish is still developing.

"You know my Kurdish is not the best. I am learning, I'm trying," he said, describing the process as gradual.

A Home Away From Home

For all the affection he feels for Rawanduz, there is one absence that no amount of local hospitality can entirely replace: his mother. Billy spoke candidly about missing her cooking, their everyday conversations and the simple experience of sitting at her table.

He keeps in touch by phone, generally speaking with her at least once a week. Technology helps bridge the distance, he said, but cannot recreate being together in person.

"I miss my mama," he said. Asked what he misses most, he answered with the Kurdish word "Daikim" - my mother.

Billy also described his time in Kurdistan in terms of what he hopes to contribute rather than receive. His Christian faith, he explained, shapes the spirit in which he approaches the people around him.

"I don't want to take anything from the Kurdish people. I come to this region to give," he said.

A visit interrupted by an airport closure has thus become a story of belonging built gradually through everyday encounters. Billy still misses home, still works at learning Kurdish and still carries the lessons of his family. But in Rawanduz, he says, he has found people who make a place far from America feel like home.

 
Product Manager: Sarwar Mohidin, Producer Dler Omar, Camera: Mohammed Gabriel, Light Shaban Abdulqadir, Grid and quality Control: Grian Sadiq Hariri and Wrya Mohamed, Coloring: Dler Omar, Directed and Edited: Dler Omar, contributed in making the feature story.