Hello ROS friends and family! We wanted to give a quick update on the Coronavirus, particularly to our friends and partners in the Middle East working with refugees. Below we have attached videos from our Tech Over Trauma manager, Hanaa, giving us tips on staying healthy. We also have information sheets that are very beneficial as well. Check our social media for more info too!
How to protect yourself from the Coronavirus
During the first part of December of 2019, some of our team members from the US went to Kurdistan to see our students and on the ground operations in Iraq. Yvette Isaac, ROS president and founder, Emily Shaffer, our staff writer, along with a few of our supporters went to Erbil, Iraq to connect with our team in Iraq. Arriving just 2 months after the Turkish attacks in northeastern Syria, we got to see first hand the devastation that had ensued with Kurdish Syrians fleeing into northern Iraq.
We were able to meet with our team on the ground in Iraq and observe the various projects occurring there:
Visited refugee camps our team works in around Dohuk and Erbil, where tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds had made a temporary home
Evaluate the needs in regards to medical attention as we have hired doctors and team members to help during this time of crisis, what supplies, equipment, and staffing there were in need of and how we could support them
Distribute clothes and accessories in refugee camps such as scarves, long undershirts, socks, hair bands, clips, hair ties
Meet with survivors of Isis captivity that we have grown close
Meeting and hearing from Princess of the Mian of the Yazidis About what the Yazidis are going through during this time, her ideas for recuperation, and what she needs from the local and international community.
Connecting with Lord David Alton, a primary figure in the British Parliament, and getting his perspective so we could all partner together to meet the various needs in the camps. He was then able to go back to the UK, sharing that with the rest of the British government
That camp in particular was mostly consisting of Syrian refugees who were flying north eastern Syria on the run from the Turkish attacks. We got to be present with a lot of kids and parents there which was really special to connect with them on that level. There was still so much pride and happiness that they carried with them such as being very hospitable and wanting to show off where they lived in their tents. Even grown men had transformed their tents into shops in market places or even little restaurants. They were really proud of what they had and what they could still do to be able to use their skills to benefit those around them.
Another significant aspect of our trip to Kurdistan was the opening of our clinic in Sigy. We have been building a medical clinic and the playground and classrooms there since the spring of 2019 and we were finally able to open this to the public officially in December 2019. We have a doctor on staff that is able to be at the clinic one day a week. However our goal is to have a doctor there five days out of the week. It was very exciting to have the support of several local Kurdish new stations along with government officials, church leaders in the region, and Dohuk health employees. Included at the site of Sigy were also classrooms we were able to construct. The layout also had a turf soccer field that we built back in the summer that kids were already enjoying playing on. Our team that came from the US to Kurdistan had a blast spending time with the kids in engaging with them and playing games together.
Despite Roads of Success being a small organization in a large region of the world, we were able to see firsthand the fruits of all that the Lord is doing in northern Iraq. We were able to better understand the needs of the area and how we can best support our team and the communities there. We came away inspired to continue the work that we were doing there, trusting that it is bringing healing and restoration to a volatile place. Our president and founder Yvette has become even more inspired to continue these projects in that region as we sink our roots into Kurdistan even further.
The Syrian refugee crisis continues! More than 360,000 people (Kurds, Christians, Assyrians) have been displaced by the ongoing fighting that has been occurring. They are now refugees in desperate need of your help. We have teams on the ground in Iraqi Kurdistan where tens of thousands of Syrian refugees are fleeing to. In these camps, we provide medical relief, give food, and distribute winter clothes. $40 will help a family with food costs for a month! $20 will help a family be examined by a doctor, receive medication, along with clothes for the winter. Donate today to help the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees in need! DONATE NOW!
Our partners in the Middle East have told us that the situation is tough and many are walking, going to Iraq, specifically Dohuk. Kurds, Christians, and Yazidis are fleeing the area, as there is no food in Syria and all the areas that have been supplying food have been hit hard by the Turkish invasion. Currently thousands of Syrians are fleeing to Iraq, which is safer for now, but may not be for much longer. Northern Iraq, which is home to hundreds of thousands of Kurdish refugees, are packed with displacement camps and are already short on supplies. At the moment, our students in Iraq are safe, but please continue to pray for their safety. Please also pray with us and donate as we are doing all we can to help those who are fleeing and suffering if you would like to be apart of bringing aid to this crisis.
Tragedy has hit the Middle East again in northeastern Syria as US president Donald Trump has pulled the American troops out of the region. Turkish and ISIS forces are now invading and uprooting the already vulnerable area. We need your help and your prayers now more than ever. Our hearts are breaking as our partners and refugees there are in harm’s way. Kurds are being killed and the unrest in the are will likely spend and continue to cause panic. Please pray for all those affected by this, consider donating to our cause, and pray for God to work miraculously in ISIS and Turkish territory. We are seeking to send humanitarian containers as soon as we can. We need all the help we can get!!
(photo from Aleppo in 2017)
By Emily Shaffer
ISIS isn’t a new headline I read about a few times a month. Sometimes I wish it was. It’s not something I’ve learned about in a documentary or book any more. It’s real. It’s affected people I know and love and still continues to. Therefore, it has affected me. Sometimes it’s hard to let Jesus be bigger than ISIS and the imminent fear of them. How am I supposed to make sense of the worst form of the Devil incarnate terrorizing friends and family to no avail?
Battling the threat of the Islamic State has become a new normal and sometimes I just wish it wasn’t. I know it’s not my burden to carry, but my heart still breaks and the fear still sets in. What is my response supposed to be when my students tell me that they want to move to America because Iraq has ISIS? It still rattles me. It’s like my head can’t grasp that this evil called ISIS is real and that they’ve infiltrated every aspect of the lives of my students, friends, and fellow sons and daughters of Christ across the Middle East. Is this supposed to be a new normal or is it normal to feel nauseous this often? The thing is, I want to see Jesus in Islamic State members. And I do. I absolutely do, sometimes even more than in myself. They’re humans after all, made in His perfect image. I want to love them as such. This may be the hardest thing I’ve ever had to love before. Can I do this? ISIS feels like a pill I just can’t swallow. I feel torn between two words, and I have no idea where I belong.
The Devil is breathing down my neck. He’s breathing down all of ours. There are often a multitude of questions that swirl through my mind: “Am I supposed to live this way? Will this ever get easier? How would Jesus respond to ISIS?” That last question always packs a punch and often leaves me searching for more than I bargained for. But the questions usually don’t stop there: “Why do I want to go so bad to a place everyone is leaving? Am I just kidding myself? Do I want to do it because it’s badass, because it’s different, or because I want to stand out?”
These aren’t the questions I thought I’d be asking at twenty-one years old. But then again, my prayers weren’t what I expected them to be either:
“ God, I dream of going to Iraq, of living there, of seeing and being a part of a unified Iraq. But I’m scared. I think, more than anything, that I’m scared you’ll “take this away” from me. That you won’t be faithful, that the wait will be long, that I’ll never reach Kurdistan, that you won’t really fulfill what I think you’ve called me to, that you want be to stay uncomfortable and unhappy so I’ll stay focused on you. But you can’t be that evil of a God. That’s not in your nature, nor is that what you’ve shown to me. I have to stop comparing other’s stories to mine. Help me stay true to You and Your plan for my life, Iraq, or no Iraq. Jesus help me breathe. I love you. ”
It was only days later that one of my Iraqi friends living in Kurdistan sent me an article with the following headline: The United Nations and the Pentagon: ISIS has not been defeated and its return is a matter of time.
The article began… “Many officials and experts contend that ISIS has not already been defeated and that returning under this or another name is only a matter of time… ISIS has managed to reorganize its operations in these two countries, especially because local forces there are ‘still unable to remain on high alert for a long time and to ensure that the areas they have controlled are guarded.’ ”
It’s hard to concisely pen my exact reaction, but one of which was definitely not “surprise”. I have to admit that my first thought was “I saw this coming”. When the topic of the Islamic State becomes your normal, you begin to expect this kind of news. As I’ve done lots of reading about ISIS, I’ve become more and more aware of just how powerful, complex, and smart they truly are. They operate more like a military than random extremists; in fact, nothing about ISIS is random. They use social media to recruit individuals from all over Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. They’re strategic and let nothing go to waste. They have a plan and never waver from that. Though this is not meant to be a compliment, ISIS is potentially the most intelligent terrorist group this world has seen. Welcome to 21st century Islamic extremism.
The thing we must understand about ISIS is their perseverance and unwavering commitment to their beliefs. They wouldn’t give up easily. Despite not having control of Raqqah, Syria or Mosul, Iraq as they previously did in 2018, ISIS is relentless. They are still functional, still carry out attacks, and instill fear wherever they go. It was easy to get caught up in the notion of ISIS being defeated, because that’s what these past five years have been about. But those that follow ISIS closely do they would never be easily dismounted. ISIS still receives funding from a variety of sources and that won’t stop anytime soon: “the organization still has more than $ 400 million hidden in various forms in Syria, Iraq and even in neighboring countries.”
But to those that have already faced the threat of ISIS, such as our students in Iraq, Greece, and Germany, the return of the Islamic State brings new fears. To put it lightly, this is the lemon juice on the salt already on the unhealed wound. Just months ago, back in the beginning of June, Iraqi Yazidis in Kurdistan had to process the reality that their vacant homes and mass graves were being set on fire so they would never be able to return to their hometowns. Go back to look at the past five years, you’ll find story after story of Yazidi and Christian house being ransacked, fathers being shot in front of their families, sons taken to be converted into child soldiers, and women of all ages being taken as sex slaves for members of ISIS. Everything has already been taken from the persecuted minorities in Kurdistan and throughout Syria. And now, ISIS is coming back again.
But, we won’t lose hope. We know who wins in the end and whose side we’re on. We know that justice will come and is coming and we know we’re not alone. There are always moments of discouragement, exhaustion, and fear. But hope is bigger than any of it. And hope is here to stay.
It is with great joy that we invite you to attend our upcoming container loading day of our next shipment to Iraq. We’ll pray together and bless the shipment as it gets loaded and sent to the military base in Riverside from which it’ll be sent to their base in Erbil.
This loading event will take place next Tuesday, August 13, at 09:00 AM at our office in Rosemead, CA. We would love to see you all as we bless the shipment and send it off to bless many displaced people, including Christians and Yazidis, in Iraq. We would love any help we can get for this day going towards helping those in need in the Middle East!
By Emily Shaffer
Five years. It’s been five years. Five years since the Yazidi genocide perpetrated by ISIS began in Sinjar, Iraq on August 3rd, 2014. In some ways this has felt like the blink of an eye. In some ways it has been. Five years is not that long. Most people that lived to see the atrocities brought on by ISIS and survived, are still alive today. And in other ways, it feels like we have lived many lifetimes in that span of years. We have enough heartbreak, death and devastation, and trauma to last several lifetimes, but we will continue to carry on, smiling.
It’s easy to get caught up in the tragedy of it all, especially for those that this tragedy is a daily reality. I think of my friends, students, and fellow ROS team members in Iraq. I think of the girls I have come to know and love through our Tech Over Trauma Program and how this day changed their lives forever. I think of Ekhlas, our first student and Ambassador of Hope, who was enslaved to ISIS for several months after they attacked her home. I think of one of my students, Layla (named changed for safety reasons), who calls Sinjar her home as she has relocated many times throughout Iraq and now joins her family in Germany as they seek asylum. But I have to believe there’s hope. There has to be. Because why else would we continue on?
One of my Yazidi friends, Turkiya, currently living in Kurdistan, described the current situation for Yazidis still in Iraq: For five years people have been living in [refugee] camps. Living in the camps is very hard. People do not have a place to go. Children live among the dirt in the camps. The people, IDPs (Internally Displaced People), are very tired living in these camps. Shingal (the Arabic name for Sinjar) is destroyed and there is no safety because of the political conflicts. ISIS has killed people and raped girls. They killed the Yazidis in Iraq because of their religion, as many Muslims do not like the Yazidi religion. People have lost their mother and father. They were killed before their very eyes.
It’s easy to get caught up in what there is not instead of what there is. So today we think of the thousands of people that have received aid- food, medical supplies, and clothes- from dozens of humanitarian organizations. We think of the thousands of girls- mothers and daughters- freed of sexual abuse from the Isalmic State. We think of the new generation of Yazidis and Arabs in Iraq rising up against the violence. We think of our students getting the education they deserve to create a better future. We think of the stories that have been shared and those that have been empowered. But most importantly, we think of how we know Victory is coming.
And in the same breath, we think of the lives lost and those affected by each one of them. We think of the thousands of women still forced to be sex slaves to ISIS. There are currently almost 3,000 Yazidis still in captivity or missing, and over 6,000 abductees. Over 100,000 individuals have immigrated outside of Iraq because of the rising tensions. We think of the young Yazidi boys drugged into becoming the next generation of terrorist fighters. Lastly, we think of the families separated and sprawled out around the world trying to find each other and start new lives together.
This reminds us of the work that still needs to be done, and that gives hope. We get to be world changers and peacemakers in seeking to provide healing from the inside out. This anniversary is a marker, showing how far we have come and how far we have yet to go. Because it has to get better from here. We have more knowledge, are capable of more, have more connections and relationships built. We have grown, been stretched, cried and slept, and rejoiced ten times over. We firmly believe that God will continue to be faithful to not just in providing where He is leading us, but in bringing forth justice across the earth.
Isaiah 42: 1-3 says it well: Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.
Therefore, we will work for the safety and reconstruction in Shingal. We will work to increase culture and science. School is very important. We will work to give rights to all those we encounter. Step by step, we will work for the return of the people to their land.
From the words of Turkiya herself: “For five years we have no land, no house. I love life and I want to live in peace… there is no safety. I love my country and wish to live in peace. How I wish we lived in peace in our country.”
What is the hope? The hope is peace. The hope is that we continue to persevere. The hope is that we’re still breathing and fighting and speaking up. The hope is that no matter how long this conflict and genocide lasts, we have joy that will outlast any devastation.
By Emily Shaffer
If I have learned anything in my time working with Roads of Success as a Creative Director and teacher for Yazidi refugee girls, it’s that there are few things more powerful than being able to share one’s story with the world. The simple request I hear time and time again from those suffering persecution in the Middle East is for the world to know what they have faced. They want the world to know their history, their pain, and to help them collectively seek out hope together. While this is by no means an easy ask, it is certainly a necessary one, and one that is beyond deserved.
At ROS, we have dedicated our lives towards giving a voice to the voiceless. We continually seek to empower others to find their voice and support them, or be the voice for those who are not able to share their story. There is no better duo to exemplify this dynamic with than our own Vice President, Jacqueline Isaac, and our Ambassador of Hope, Ekhlas Bajoo.
On July 15 2019, the Bishop of Truro invited both Jacqueline and Ekhlas to his Independent Review for the Foreign Secretary of FCO Support for Persecuted Christians. He asked them to speak on behalf of the targeted Christians, Yazidis, and other endangered minorities in the Middle East, specifically in Iraq.
Jacqueline and Ekhlas were joined at this event by Christy Anastas, a Palestinian Christian from Bethlehem “who personally experienced religious persecution from more than one direction” (quote from Independent Review Media Release). They were also accompanied Dr. Habib Malik, a Lebanese Christian from Beirut and Associate Professor, at the Lebanese American University (Independent Review Media Release). This special event was led and hosted by Lord Tariq Ahmad, Minister of State in the Foreign Office and the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion and Belief (Independent Review Media Release).
The Bishop himself shared in this press release that “the freedom to think for oneself and to choose to believe what one chooses to believe, without fear of coercion, is the most fundamental human right, and is indeed the one on which so many others depend…” (Independent Review Media Release). We could not agree more and this is the reason Jackie and Ekhlas, along with our entire ROS team seeks out justice and empowerment the way we do.
Jacqueline began by sharing accounts of Yazidis and Christians persecuted by terrorists in the Middle East and the personal impact it has had on her life. Ekhlas then followed, speaking in Arabic with Jacqueline translating for her in English. She shared own testimony of physical and sexual abuse by the hands of ISIS simply because of her Yazidi faith. Her speech was incredibly powerful, bringing me to tears as I listened to it through my cell phone.
That line that stood out to me amidst it all. “Humanity goes before religion.” Chills run through my body every time I hear those words and think of Jacqueline’s face as she voices them for Ekhlas. Many times, Ekhlas has shared how humanity is what keeps her going. But the weight of her words resonated differently this time. She then took Jacqueline’s hand and raised it above both of their heads. Jacqueline continued translating for Ekhlas: “…and the evidence of that is how we’re standing hand in hand.” The significance of this act and the accompanying words cannot be overstated.
Previously, Ekhlas spoke of humanity in regards to how it motivated her. Now, she spoke of it in seeking to motivate others. This was a call to action. A call to action of not letting our differences divide us or our beliefs of faith be held against us. Ekhlas continued to press into this action statement:
“For over 4 years we have been standing and battling for those together, battling for those who have been persecuted and for justice. Because it’s my right to see the Daesh [ISIS] perpetrators accountable and prosecuted against me as a Yazidi, against Christains, and against other minorities. They took our childhood. There’s nothing they did not do to us. But we will not surrender as long as we have your humanity and have you with us today. And today I have hope in your humanity and justice. I want to see them accountable. And I have faith in your humanity. I will not surrender and I will continue to smile with your humanity in me and with justice.”
None of these words were said lightly. Nor were they received lightly either. There is power in words, power in what we say and how we say it. We never take for granted the opportunities we have to voice our stories and the stories of those around us. Though Ekhlas grew up in the Yazidi faith, she also spoke on behalf of her Christian brothers and sisters in Iraq facing persecution. Because raising our voice is never only meant in speaking up on our behalf, but on behalf of those like us around the world.
Jacqueline also read a statement from a Christian friend also taken into captivity in the Middle East. This friend was persecuted side by side with Yazidis, empathizing with them, while also mentioning the differences in how the world received them: “When the world raised the voices of my Yazidi friends, the world gave them a future but we as Christians, the ones that escaped, are silenced. We escaped captivity to find freedom but we find ourselves in a new prison. We are alone because the world is blind to our stories. Please bring our stories to light.”
This request has echoed in my mind and heart since I heard it. This is my heart, just as it is the heart of our organization as a whole: to bring a voice to the voiceless. Like Ekhlas shared, together we have been fighting for justice for more than 4 years. We have been building relationships with Christians, Yazidis, and politicians in the Middle East for over a decade. In some ways, that seems like the blink of an eye and in other ways that feels like a lifetime. As much as we sometimes wish the work was over, we will never stop sharing the stories of the persecuted. We will never stop fighting for freedom and justice from oppression. We will never stop standing hand and hand as brothers and sisters, no matter what our differences may be. In the words of Ekhlas herself:
By Emily Shaffer
For those who have been following the stories and individuals of Roads of Success, the name Ekhlas is not a new one. But for those hearing it for the first time, allow me to introduce her to you. Ekhlas Khudhur Bajoo is from Northern Iraq and currently lives in Southern Germany. She is of the Yazidi ethnic and religious minority of which there is about 1 million people left in Iraq. She is a bright young girl in her early twenties who dreams of becoming a lawyer. But her story has been far from joyous over the years. When Ekhlas was 14, she watched her father murdered by ISIS. They then proceeded to take her as a sex slave for themselves in attempt to completely obliterate the Yazidi ethnic minority.
Ekhlas met Jacqueline Isaac, Attorney and Vice President of Roads of Success, a few years ago when she was a teenager. As Ekhlas desires to become a lawyer and bring justice to the Yazidi minority in Iraq, particularly the young girls who have been enslaved to ISIS, she has been taken under Jacqueline’s wing. Jacqueline has continued to mentor and care for Ekhlas, bringing her hope and guidance in speaking out against the injustice Ekhlas has seen and experienced first hand.
Together Jacqueline and Ekhlas have spoken before the UK Parliament, U.S. Congress, and the United Nations all across the globe. In their most recent adventure together, Jackie and Ekhlas went to Luxembourg along with Yvette Isaac, Founder and President of ROS, and other members of ROS. On March 26 and 27, the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg held an annual conference called Stand Speak Rise Up. The purpose of this event was to bring together leaders, advocates, and survivors to discuss and take action against victims of war. The topic specifically revolves around ending rape being used as a weapon of war.
Speakers for this event came from all around the globe, including fellow genocide survivor and advocate, Nadia Murad from Nadia’s Initiative. Our own Ekhlas Khudhur Bajoo was one of these speakers. We call her our Ambassador of Hope, being a spokesperson for survivors and persecuted ethnic minorities in Iraq who have faced the threat and violence of the Islamic State. We are incredibly proud of her and all that she has done and stood for despite the intense adversity she has faced in her life. Being our first student at ROS, she has set the tone and bar for students to follow.
Most recently, Ekhlas had the opportunity to speak at the Stand Speak Rise Up. She shared her story of surviving being a sex slave to ISIS but did not simply share a narrative of sorrow and tragedy. Ekhlas presented her story as one of hope, of perseverance, and the courage to continue onward. “Why am I smiling?” she asked the audience. “The reason is you, for the humanity you represent. Humanity is the strongest weapon we have” (Quote from Delano.lu, “I’ll Stand and Fight Against Indignity” by Natalie A. Gerhardstein).
Humanity is what keeps Ekhlas going. Humanity is what gives her hope for future. Humanity is what gives her the the strength to face tomorrow and continue to share her powerful story.
Ekhlas was able to tell her story in Luxembourg and she was not sharing it alone. This is were true strength and courage comes from- knowing that one does not have to face the injustices and heartaches of this world by themselves. Along with Nadia Murad (Iraq), Ekhlas was a part of a conversational panel indlucing Iryna Dovhan (Ukraine), Fulvia Chunganá Medina (Colombia), and Aline Munezero (Burundi), each survivors of sexual violence and warfare.
The Grand Duchess facilitated the discussion between these brave women. She began the event by sharing a hopeful statement in her opening speech: “If we cannot end war, let us at least end rape as a weapon” (Quote from Chronicle.lu, Survivors of Sexual Violence Share Stories of Heartbreak, Hope on First Day of Stand Speak Rise Up Event by JCA).
The two-day event was put together by the Foundation of The Grand Duke and The Grand Duchess. They also partnered with the Dr. Denis Mukwege Foundation and We Are Not Weapons of War (WWOW) non-profit. This impactful and influential event took place at the European Convention Center in Luxembourg hosted by Her Royal Highness, Maria Teresa.
This was a pinnacle moment for ROS, especially for Jacqueline, Yvette, and Ekhlas. Every chance to advocate for minorities and displaced people affected by ISIS in Syria and Iraq is always considered a victory for us. Not everyone who has been wounded by the traumatic impact of the Islamic State has the opportunity to speak out and share their story. However, that is our mission: to share the stories of those who cannot, including those who are no longer with us today. For justice and healing to be brought to Ekhlas’ story and ones like it, we must start a conversation about what is happening in the Middle East, particularly Iraq.
We are excited to continue to campion Ekhlas and our girls like her. After Ekhlas shared her compelling statement, “our smile and our humanity is the strongest weapon we have,” her words were met with a resounding applause from the entire audience. In the words of Yvette Isaac, “she brought the house down.” Through Stand Speak Rise Up, it has been made very clear that we are not the only ones in loving support of Ekhlas. The whole word is here to listen and campion Ekhlas as we continue to.
