Growing up in Iraq gave me a superpower | Murtadha Al-Tameemi | TEDxBaghdad

In this talk, Murtadha describes his journey from its beginnings as a young child in Baghdad, born in a war-torn country and experiencing some of the harshest of conditions that most other Iraqis lived through at the time. Being an Iraqi felt like a curse to him, as he struggled to live in the country. He also suffered as he tried to leave the country, not to mention the challenges he continues to face after living abroad for over a decade, all simply because he was born in this arbitrary geographic location.

But there was a turning point in Murtadha's views on his origins; something that demonstrated to him that being born in Iraq actually gave him a superpower that helped him conquer the challenges and struggles he faced and equipped him with the strength and resilience that allowed him to do things he never thought were possible. Murtadha Al-Tameemi was born and raised in Baghdad, Iraq and has been working as a software engineer at Meta (formerly known as Facebook) for the last 9 years. He is also a passionate traveller and have been to more than 120 countries with his humble Iraqi passport, officially recognized as the worst passport in the world during 2020. Besides travel, Murtadha is passionate about technology and education, especially the intersection of them all. He founded several initiatives to offer educational experiences and exchange programs to fellow Iraqis who have great potential but have been lacking the right opportunities. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx