SEDO Organization and the return of hope
Before ISIS entered Sinjar, Noufah, her husband, and her children were living on orchard cultivation and were satisfied with their lives, but after ISIS entered Sinjar on August 3, 2014.Nofa and her family did not have a car to escape from ISIS, and after ISIS took control of their area, they were trying to escape by walking from ISIS, and they were all arrested and they remained in ISIS prisons for several years.After their liberation from the grip of ISIS, they returned to live in their village, Dhola.And after Covid-19 disease appeared in Iraq and in the Sinjar region, her husband contracted this disease and died.
After that, Noufah became the breadwinner for her family, knowing that they do not have a source of income.
The Sahara Organization for Economic Development registered its name, and Nofa attended a training course and benefited from the project to restore the livelihoods of Yazidi survivors in Sinuni, after the Sahara Organization opened a small project for her.
Now she and her children run her project and make profits, and thanks the efforts of the organization to open a source of income for her and her family.
Hope wins with SEDO
Many survivors of the genocide still suffer psychological trauma and difficult conditions after escaping from ISIS captivity and returning to their families; Therefore, Sahara Economic Development Organization is making great efforts to address and assist some of these cases.
Mahdia Qassem, 36 years old, from the village of Bork, about 15 km from the Sinuni center, is one of the survivors of ISIS and she was facing difficulties to come to terms with what happened to her while she was in captivity Mahdia said: “ISIS kidnapped me with all members of my family in the Burke area, and they took us to Tal Afar and from Tal Afar to Mosul and to the city of Raqqa in Syria; they treated me like a slave girl and a captive in one of the houses belonging to ISIS members, at one time the planes bombed the house and I miraculously survived and During the bombing, my daughter was targeted and she was taken to God’s mercy.”Mahdia was held for several years before escaping and reuniting with the rest of her family. She was suffering from psychological trauma and difficult circumstances, and stopped talking to her family at times. After her liberation, she was feeling disappointed and broken, and she waited for more than four years for her husband to return, and she was still waiting for her husband, and she was living with her husband’s father, her two daughters, and on the assistance of charitable people.
The Sahara Organization team visited her to see her situation. Then, she was selected to receive the necessary support to start a small business.
After her participation in a training course for five days and by four hours a day, we were able to rehabilitate her psychologically and improve her psychological condition during this training course.
After her condition improved, Mahdia was able to gather her thoughts and think about how her children should live. She combined that into a work project, and she is optimistic about getting support for her project from our organization.
Mahdia added, “I will establish a women’s, men’s, and children’s shoe store under the name ‘Mahdia’, and run it with my husband’s family, and we will earn a good income so that I can support myself and my daughter.”
And the Sahara Organization helped her with support and funding from the US Agency for International Development within the program of the Chemonics company by opening a small project for her to support herself and her daughters.
And now Mahdia is running her project and making profits, and she is able to manage herself and her daughters thanks to the Sahara Organization and the Chemonics Company. She thanks their efforts to open the door of livelihood for her and her daughters, and she can live for herself and her daughters without the help of others