From the heart of the sports city of Basra (southern Iraq), and in a procession resembling presidential processions, the Gulf bus set off, heading to a number of Iraqi governorates, to celebrate Basra's hosting of the "Gulf 25" championship, which will be held in January 2023, and the city's readiness to receive this great sporting event that will be held for the first time in it.
The idea of the Gulf bus is based on a well-known heritage vehicle (Chevrolet) in Basra, which is of the 1958 model, made of wood. Work was carried out on its rehabilitation over two years, under the supervision of the owner of the idea and the project, Issam Jaafar, a film director.
His teammate, Jassim Al-Asmar, the wooden bus driver, helped in the rehabilitation process, and he inherited its manufacture from his father, the bus manufacturer in the sixties of the last century, while the sculptor Ahmed Al-Bahrani, who gifted the Gulf Cup copy to the bus team, contributed to decorating it, as it was installed at the front of the vehicle. The bus seats were woven by professional women from Al-Muthanna Governorate, and many welcoming phrases were written, and the championship cups were woven over the past sessions on the other seats.
The "Gulf 25" bus tours many Iraqi cities (Al-Jazeera)
public reception
The Gulf bus, which entered Nasiriyah this week, is one of the most amazing and attention-grabbing ideas, in order to promote and celebrate the Gulf 25 in Basra, and the director of the Directorate of Youth and Sports in Dhi Qar, Muhannad Al-Sahlani, says, "We held a great reception for them from the people of the province, as the reception was with motorcycles and roaming within the city.”
After the reception - as Al-Sahlani told Al-Jazeera Net - they were taken on a tour to the ancient city of "Ur", one of the most prominent landmarks in Iraq, and the next day, there was a friendly match as part of the celebration in the presence of a number of athletes in the province, and in the presence of the Gulf Bus Program team.
The bus will try to reach many Gulf cities (Al-Jazeera)
Itinerary
The first stop was Dhi Qar Governorate, adjacent to Basra, where the team's journey landed on Tuesday, December 13, as the owner of the idea and project, film director Issam Jaafar, told Al-Jazeera Net, where a large audience was receiving him, at the entrance to the city.
Jaafar adds that the bus set off on Thursday, December 15, from Dhi Qar Governorate to the capital, Baghdad, and after that, "we will go to the city of Anbar, then to Mosul, and then to Erbil, and this is what time allows until we try to move and reach the Gulf countries participating in the events, and we try to We will reach the largest number during the next few days to hold interviews.”
Jaafar says, "We did not encounter difficulties when starting our journey. At every station, we see a public, community, clan, and security reception process at the borders of every administrative unit we pass through. The vehicle carries the flags of the countries participating in the tournament, and people receive us as if one of the kings is coming to them majestically. We did not find difficulties, but smiles." Words of love meet us on this journey.
The bus has a collective memory with all the Gulf states (Al-Jazeera)
visual heritage
The idea of the Gulf Bus Program was launched, as confirmed by the project owner, Issam Jaafar, on the grounds that the bus represents a historical icon in the city of Basra because it was manufactured in the fifties of the last century, and therefore this wooden vehicle represented this heritage, and historically, the bus had reached the outskirts of a number of Gulf countries. She arrived at the Kaaba during the Hajj season, and therefore she has a collective memory with all the Gulf countries.
Jassim Al-Asmar, the bus driver and one of its makers, told Al-Jazeera Net that only 4 workable cars of this type remained in Iraq, and therefore even the remaining three cars were inherited by children from their fathers with love, and they only go out on specific occasions, so there were Difficulties in obtaining this vehicle, and then work on it began over two years.
The history of the presence of the first wooden bus in Basra dates back to the early forties of the last century, through Indian merchants, and it was designed to transport goods, but over time it was converted to be ready for passengers, after which it entered service in public transport at the end of the fifties, and the bus body is made of wood "Benzo and Saj" and the opposite packing wood that is on the outer edges.
The bus trip aims to show messages of love from all Iraqi cities to the rest of the Gulf countries (Al-Jazeera)
Loving messages
Issam Jaafar says that the goal of the bus is to try to introduce in each governorate the various aspects, such as the historical, societal or tribal face of each governorate, and it tries to highlight the city's features in a positive way and to show messages of love from all cities to the rest of the Gulf countries.
The image of the wooden bus was still present in the minds of the Basrans who witnessed the spread of this vehicle in the eighties and nineties of the last century, when they saw the Gulf bus roaming the city announcing the launch of "Gulf 25" in the city, which is also a celebration of the city's memory and heritage.