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For close to seven years we have lived and worked within the minority Yezidi, Syrian and Christian communities of Kurdistan and Iraq. Our base is inside a remote Yezidi village which is home to a UN camp for 18,000 Yezidi refugees driven out of Shingal in 2014 by ISIS and to an additional 20,000 refugees living in tents dotted around the village.
As we have shared our Iraqi journey with our ever growing Family of Hope , we have received comments such as “ Oh how horrific” , “ How tragic “ or “ How do you cope?”
There are days when we have wept, days when we have screamed in face of the evil present in this current age. Days when we felt that our skin could not absorb any more. We could not not sidestep reality but we could bring hope into bleak futures.
As we persisted, our hearts have increased to love the stranger, to plead the cause for one whose voice has been silenced by hatred. We have learned that which textbooks can not teach, love and hope do win. Love is stronger than death. Hope is tangible, hope has its own fragrance, it is colourful and fun. Hope dances, hope sings, hope paints, hope sews, hope grows seeds. Hope and love are unstoppable. They redefine the future.
of Hope rising in a region of devastation.
The Lives Changed by Radical Hope
We have two primary operational locations within the Kurdish Region of Iraq. The Hope Centre, located inside Shariya Camp , is an educational and rehabilitation centre and home to several hundred Yezidi women,children and youth, most of whom are survivors rescued from captivity as sexual slaves, and child soldiers within the Islamic State.
The Rainbow Zone community centre is located a few kilometers away in a tenement town constructed for Syrian Kurds escaping the war and starvation in Syria. By working with the kindergarten age and the teens we impact the entire community.
Common to the Yezidi and the Syrian communities is loss of life and home. They have experienced bloodshed, violence, torture, rape, hunger, devastation and severe oppression. They have begun life again with nothing apart from a tent or four concrete block walls. Most of our women are widows, and our Yezidi students are orphans.
Behind our colorful blue and orange gates, surrounded by lush gardens, fruit trees, art sculptures, dogs, rabbits and a cat or two, to the sound of footballs pounding, guitars strumming and a mosaic fountain bubbling
This website portrays some of the journey of our incredible communities, students who are fighting for life, fighting for their future. Kids who are changing the narrative of the region, whose dreams and goals are not restricted by a four by four meter tent and no money. Kids who are flying high and far. Widows who are daring to dream, daring to believe in their worth. Lives are changing around us.
