Image: Meyan found sewing to be not only enjoyable, but also almost therapeutic (the picture does not show Meyan for safety reasons).
Meyan (name changed for security reasons, ed) is a woman in her mid-twenties. She is a Yazidi - a Kurdish minority in northern Iraq who have been oppressed for centuries. Meyan grew up in the mountainous region of Sinjar and when she was twenty years old, she married Ajar (name changed for security reasons, ed.).
They lived near the town of Tel Azir (name changed for security reasons, ed) with their three children: a 4-year-old girl, a 2-year-old boy and a 1-year-old girl. The Islamic State sees the Yazidis as infidels, so when they took the areas around Sinjar and came to Meyan's village, she and her family fled to the mountains, but they were soon captured.
Image: Islamic State sold Meyan to a man who one day beheaded a man in front of her and her children because he was accused of being a spy (Image from the article The 'futurist' aesthetics of ISIS).
The Islamic State divided the families into men and women, and all children over the age of six were trained to use weapons and fight. They selected the most beautiful of the young women and one of them took Meyan to her home, while another took their eldest daughter and gave her to a family who had no children of their own.
Meyan cried and screamed for her daughter, but they beat her until she fainted. Then they locked her up with the two youngest children in an ISIS camp and left them to starve. They then sold her to another man in the area and one day he beheaded a man in front of her and the children because he was accused of being a spy. Meyan was sold and abused several times because of her beauty. Other women tell similar stories of rape, slave labor and forced marriages. Young women like Meyan were often given to ISIS fighters as wives or sold into slavery for as little as 100 dollars. On one occasion, Meyan and her children were present while ISIS soldiers threw a man off the roof of a building. He was dead on the spot, but the memory of it burned into them. Meyan and her two children were eventually freed when US troops entered the area, but she has not seen her husband or eldest daughter since they were separated.
Inner wounds heal slowly
Meyan and her children stayed in several different refugee camps until they were finally able to move in with relatives. Although the physical signs of hunger and abuse eventually disappeared, it took much longer for the psychological and spiritual wounds to heal. Some of the many challenges Meyan experienced were a sense of isolation, helplessness and a lack of meaning in life.
Through a relative, Meyan had the opportunity to join a sewing course. She enjoyed learning something new and making something tangible, such as clothes for her children. She also enjoyed the new sense of community with the other women, many of whom had been through similar experiences. Little by little, she began to open up in this safe little community. Meyan found that sewing was not only enjoyable, but also almost therapeutic. It gave her something concrete to do instead of just feeling helpless, and it gave her a new sense of purpose in life. During the course, she also heard about the Gospel and watched the women who followed Jesus. They seemed to have a special peace and sense of purpose that she longed for. When asked about her experience with the sewing course, Meyan said: "I feel a peace and joy like never before. Jesus gave himself for me! I have a purpose and I have value. I don't just exist so that others can buy and sell me and exploit me. I have a purpose because Jesus says I do. He loves me! The sewing course has helped me discover a new life."
Jesus gave himself for me! I have value. I don't just exist so that others can buy and sell me. Meyan
Through education, like this sewing project, women of all ages develop important skills in sewing clothes and other items for their families and friends. Some of them go on to produce clothes that they can sell and earn an income for their families. Through their experiences on the sewing course, they also gain a renewed sense of belonging and purpose in life and have the opportunity to hear and respond to the Gospel. Through his life and ministry, Jesus gave both women and men a sense of dignity and purpose. Through education, we can help women discover all that Jesus has done for them and help them to feel that they have value and purpose.
Thank you to everyone who prays for persecuted Christians - and their work to help and care for the vulnerable in their communities.
