In an unofficial refugee camp in the mountains of Dohuk province, where we help with regular food distributions and medical care, Mariam, a young Yazidi mother, approached our female team leaders with tears in her eyes. She wanted to thank us and said: "You helped us survive from the beginning. Without your help with food and clothes, my children and I would never have made it. Even now we have very little and we don't get help from others, but with you Christians we know that every two weeks we get what we need to survive. That's the only thing that gives me hope to continue. Thank you so much."
ISIS murdered father in front of family
Mariam then broke down in tears and told our team that although she and her three children are safe now, she misses her husband, who was brutally murdered in front of them on their way up Mount Sinjar as they tried to escape from ISIS. The IS fighters following them in a Toyota Hilux were much faster and caught up with them. Her husband was murdered and she was taken by ISIS along with her three children.
Image: In the kindergarten, the children come out of their stuffiness and smiles come out. All the employees in the project are Christians.
Because of the children, and because her daughter was an infant and still being breastfed, she was not handed over to radical ISIS troops as a sex slave, but was transferred to a Syrian city under ISIS control and had to live there in captivity with her children.
The boys were trained in a paramilitary camp
Her two eldest children, boys aged 8 and 10, were taken to a paramilitary training camp where they were trained in combat and brutal slaughter. In tears, Mariam told us how her boys were even trained to cut off the heads of men who had been captured by ISIS and had their hands tied.
In tears, Mariam told us how her boys were even trained to cut off the heads of men who had been captured by ISIS and had their hands tied.
Mom: Who can help them? Help them!
She said: "After six months in captivity with ISIS, we finally managed to escape and come here. Now we are physically safe here and we are grateful to you for helping us, but what about my boys? What happens inside them after seeing and experiencing these horrible things at ISIS? My little boys were forced to become little killers. They lost their innocence in just a few months of their young lives. How can they ever get over it? They've lost their smiles and their laughter. Now they are completely withdrawn and quiet - even as their mother, I find it hard to reach them. I have lost them! Who can help them? Help them!!!
I cry every night for my children. "As an adult, it's hard and heartbreaking, but how much more are my children suffering?"And they don't know how to handle it. Please help us, please."
"As an adult, it's hard and heartbreaking, but how much more do my children suffer?" - Fun
For this reason, our local partners in Iraq have opened a kindergarten for refugee children, along with school and aid programs in several camps and areas. Currently, the mother and boys are receiving emergency aid: food, medical care, clothes and shoes. The mother is also receiving trauma care and our partners are exploring the possibility of providing trauma care for her boys, who do not live near the kindergarten that has been opened.
Not only the mother, but also many other Yazidi girls and women receive trauma treatment with the support of Danish European Mission donors, but there are so many physically and mentally abused boys who need special help and inner healing to restore hope and joy in their lives.
We are currently exploring the possibility of offering traumatized boys help and more assistance through our skilled local partners in this field, but sometimes we feel overwhelmed by the huge need for help for all these many poor and disadvantaged refugees.
God knows the suffering of children
God knows that. He has not abandoned them. He loves the poor and those who suffer. Let's pray and help them. So thank you for all your faithful support. It gives hope and life to traumatized people in Iraq.
