Seven years on the Anniversary of the Yezidi Genocide

Narin (40) is a single mother of eight children - seven girls and one boy and a widow as her husband passed away in tragic car accident in 2013. She is also a Yezidi woman from Sinjar.

Yesterday, a day before the seventh anniversary of the Yezidi Genocide in Sinjar, we had the opportunity to talk to Narin about the day her life changed: “We were eating the breakfast when we heard ISIL coming, so we stopped eating, and we ran away to the mountains. We were about to die (there) as there was nothing on the mountain to eat or to drink. We stayed seven days in the mountains and then moved to Syria and then to Kurdistan Region of Iraq.” “We were very fearful and scared when we heard their names. People were saying they would come to slaughter all of us. (our) Children’s feet were severely bruised because they didn’t have shoes.”

Today, seven years on, Narin is still living in the camp with her children and in laws. “We only focus on our children and (try to) provide them with a better future. My dream is to raise my children and that they get married and have good future and that they support me as well.”

On the possibility of returning to Sinjar, she shared “We want to go back to Sinjar (but) the tent life is very difficult for us. We want to go to Sinjar if the situation gets better there.”

Seven years ago today, ISIL entered Sinjar changing the lives of thousands of people. To date 200,000 Yezidis remain displaced having lost love ones, their homes and livelihoods. ISIL killed 5,000 Yezidi men and enslaved 7,000 Yezidi women.  Some Yezidis who were captured by ISIL were freed and compensated, but there are many who are still missing. Yezidis like Narin still live in limbo as they wish to go back to their homes in Sinjar but the tragic events of those difficult days of suffering still haunts them.