by Brigid Rowlings, LHI Communications Director
This Yazidi family was one of the to seek refuge in Greece in 2017. They have since been resettled in Germany.
Lifting Hands International’s mission is to provide aid to refugees at home and abroad. The refugees LHI supports come from a wide range of locations and cultures. They have different traditions but share a common experience—having to leave everything behind, flee their homes, and try to start over somewhere else.
We’d like to introduce to you some of our beneficiaries, starting with Yazidis.
Who are Yazidis?
Yazidis are a religious minority found in northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, northern Syria, and parts of Iran. There are approximately 700,000 Yazidis in the world. Yazidis practice a religion that incorporates elements of ancient Persian religions as well as Islam and Christianity. The Yazidis believe in one god, but the central figure in their faith is Tawusî Melek. The nameTawusî Melek translates to “Peacock Angel.” Tawusî Melek serves as an intermediary between man and god. The Yazidis have experienced persecution for centuries because their religious beliefs differ from those of the Muslim majority.
Why did Yazidis flee their homes?
“Before the genocide I was living in Sinjar. We didn't know the IS soldiers were coming. They came out of nowhere. We just had a phone call and they said flee, because they will come and kill us. Can you write this down? One thing I want to let the world know about Yazidis. Just to let the world know that we exist, that we are not hiding.” -Zaid
On August 3, 2014, the Islamic State (also known as ISIS and ISIL), invaded Yazidi communities in the Sinjar region of northern Iraq. Thousands of Yazidi men were killed and thousands more Yazidi women and girls were kidnapped and forced to marry ISIS soldiers or sold into sexual slavery.
Yazidis who managed to escape being killed or kidnapped fled to Mount Sinjar. Cut off from food, water, and medical attention, and in the hot, hot sun, many Yazidi men, women, and children died. Some relief came when Iraqi, U.S., British, and French military helicopters dropped aid onto the mountain.
The U.S. launched a series of targeted air strikes, hoping to provide the Yazidis with a way off the mountain as the Iraqi Kuridsh military force, known as the Peshmerga, and the Syrian Kurdish security force, the YPG, established a safe corridor through which the Yazidis could pass into Syria.
This is Zidane. He was 15 when his family was trapped on Mount Sinjar for 8 days. Zidane was resettled in Germany. He was visiting his family in Serres, Greece when this photo was taken.
Today, many Yazidis remain displaced from their homes. The region remains unstable, and infrastructure and homes that were destroyed by ISIS in 2014 have yet to be repaired.
Many Yazidis live in camps for internally displaced people in Iraq. Others live in refugee camps in countries like Syria, Turkey, and Greece. Some have been resettled in Europe and North America.
Yazidis at the LHI Community Center in Serres, Greece
The LHI Community Center, or “the field” as it is affectionately known by visiting volunteers, is located just outside of two refugee camps in Serres, a town in northern Greece. For a time, these camps were populated exclusively by Yazidi refugees, though that has changed recently with the arrival of other groups of refugees. The LHI Community Center offers a space where camp residents can learn, heal, and have fun!
On any given day, community members can be found learning English or German, playing sports or music, or visiting the tea station. The Female Friendly Space hosts a regular spa day, but if that is not your thing, perhaps someone might hand you a screwdriver, awakening a new passion for carpentry. Yes, this happened to one Yazidi teenager quite recently!
Sufian, beloved soccer coach and community volunteer.
Kids love the activities at the Child Friendly Space. They have fun creating art and even participating in a social-emotional learning program. But most of all they love football (that’s soccer to you American readers!). Why do they love football? In large part, it is because of their coach, Sufian, a Yazidi refugee who volunteers at the LHI Community Center. Sufian trains kids and teens every single day that the Community Center is open. Thirty to forty kids flock to his practices each day, and when the center is not open, they show up at his door begging to play.
It is not unusual for people who benefit from the services at the LHI Community Center to also serve as volunteers. People like Sufian and Abdullah, featured in the video below, enjoy being of service to their community.
This is what the LHI Community Center does for the Yazidis, and for any people who have fled their homes because their lives were in danger: it provides a place where they can find some relief from the daily stress and uncertainty every refugee faces. It provides a space where each person’s human dignity is honored and each person’s hope for the future is fostered. It provides a place for people to simply be themselves.
To find out how you can support the LHI Community Center and its beneficiaries, or how you can become involved as a visiting volunteer, click here!