Category: Stories

When I first heard about what was happening in Sigy Refugee Camp, there were two main reactions that rose to the surface for me. One was complete excitement in seeing such an incredible change take place. The other was a form of disbelief. I simply couldn’t believe what was happening less than 30 km (18 miles) from Dohuk.

For those that are a bit unfamiliar with where exactly Dohuk is, it is in Northern Iraq, a part of Iraqi Kurdistan. There is roughly a 80 km (50 miles) distance between Dohuk and Mosul. Mosul has been infamously known as the Islamic State’s capital in Iraq. Yazidis were fleeing the area, trekking through Mount Sinjar, to find safety. Cities around Mount Sinjar were attacked by ISIS as they targeted the Yazidi ethnic minority. In Mosul, the predominant targets were Iraqi Christians. Being populated mainly by Kurds and Assyrians, Dohuk has become a temporary home to many displaced people including now around 1 million Yazidi, Christian, and other minority refugees. Sigy Refugee Camp has become one of these refugee camps just outside of Dohuk.

This refugee camp consists of 300 Christian families and 1,000 Yazidi families. Let that sink in. These are not 1,300 individuals, but 1,300 families. When we speak of displaced people, we are referring to Yazidis fleeing Mount Sinjar and nearby cities, along with Iraqi Christians who have also been forced to leave their homes in Mosul. It has been estimated by that there are around 2,000 children coming through Sigy Refugee Camp each year. But here is where it really gets crazy, and really exciting.

ROS sends containers to refugee camps on a regular basis to the Middle East, particularly in Northern Iraq. These are 40-foot containers that are filled with medical supplies, blankets, clothing, and toys. Sigy Refugee Camp had received one of these from ROS about 2 years ago. But instead of letting that container go to waste in the high desert of Iraq, letting it only be used for storage, we found a better us for it. Members of the camp refurbished the container into a clinic through the help and funding of Roads of Success. We brought in a construction crew, locals willing to work and serve their neighbor, to remodel the containers and start preparing for the next stages of development.

Trucks loaded with 2x4s, varnish, construction tools, ladders, paneling, plants, and wheelbarrows rolled into the camp to start the daunting process of building what both displaced Yazidis, refugees, and locals alike dreamed of: a gym center for the youth and families. What started with just a 40 ft used container turned clinic soon became so much more.

A soccer field soon entered the scene. Being referred to by Sigy Refugee Camp as the gym, this field is the focal point of this center. The refugee camp describes the goal of the gym to be for the youth to become more physically active and healthy, with the hope that this will decrease depression and suicide case in that age group. Different activities that are being offered at the gym include volleyball, soccer, handball, lacrosse, ultimate frisbee, and badminton, along with other games and running sports.

The simple truth is sports, especially soccer in the Middle East, is more than just fun and games between kids. It is hope in the middle of a literal dry desert. It’s a step into change and peace that brings healing. If a generation of displaced and refugee children have the opportunity to continually hear and see that they are worth time, energy, love, and being seen consistently, could that not change the world? Or at least the tiniest piece of it? I have to believe the answer to be a resounding yes.

Yet there is still more to the story. Classrooms are being built for children to be educated in. Somehow, in the midst of all the chaos and disarray, there is not only the desire for a better future, but the firm belief that it is real and tangible. After being forced to flee their homes in the waking threat of ISIS, then having to cram into a refugee camps with thousands of other displaced Yazidi families, the Iraqis here are not willing to let their adversity win. Hope is still real and very close for them, enough if it just starts with a soccer ball. There is not simply the hope for survival, but the dreams and plans to live a life of thriving, even in a desert.

The best way for this hope to be represented is through the community garden being built. When Yvette Isaac, Founder and President of ROS, first told me about what was going on at Sigy Refugee Camp, this is what excited me the most about the project. Looking through the photos, the green plants in the midst of the dry dirt stood out to me more than anything. If this was not a perfect visual of a spring in the desert, I didn’t know what was. The community garden will be located right in front of the clinic. Our hope is that all who come and go through Sigy Refugee Camp will not only find physical healing and recovery, but mental and emotional healing as well. And we believe that that can start with a soccer field and a garden.

However, the journey is far from over for both the refugees and the projects here at Sigy Refugee Camp. Currently the Methodist Church and Sigy Refugee Camp are only able to afford for a local doctor to come in once a week to the clinic. The hope is to have a doctor each day of the week. Along with the costs of running a clinic, there is also the costs of the gym itself. The gym costs totals out to about $15,000. This includes items like the fencing, goals and balls, and 3 shift supervisors. A significant necessity also included in the funds mentioned goes towards electricity and a cooler so the crew will be able to work at night as it is very hot to work during the day. Every bit helps, even if it’s donating $40 towards ultimate frisbee. We are so grateful for all who have donated and partnered with us at Roads of Success. But the hard work is far from over.

DOB:1995  –   Location: Dahok – Kurdistan, Iraq I only finished the 6th grade. I am a Yazidi from Sinjar. I come from a family of 7 my father was in the military and he died in the line of duty in 2006. I cannot express our feelings when ISIS entered Sinjar. At sunrise,…

I only finished the 6th grade. I am a Yazidi from Sinjar. I come from a family of 7 my father was in the military and he died in the line of duty in 2006.

I cannot express our feelings when ISIS entered Sinjar. At sunrise, the sky was clear and free from smoke and blood. When they attacked us, we didn’t know where to go. We heard people crying and screaming. We don’t know why or how things happened. Everybody was running towards the mountain, since we were surrounded by ISIS, by killing, abduction and injustice. People were leaving their houses without food, water or clothes. We all wished to die and not see children starving, girls committing suicide. Everybody was afraid, some ran to the mountains and others didn’t know what to do. Neighbors deceived each other, women and girls being kidnapped, men and boys being killed these are all the actions of the terrorist group ISIS. We escaped once ISIS entered Sinjar, before they got to our village. So many people who didn’t have cars were walking and were captured by ISIS. A military group has withdrawn, therefore, the Yazidi men had fight and defend their families and the people till they get to the mountain.

We ran to the mountain and stayed there for 8 days and left on the 9th day. On the mountain, the trees and the rocks were our shelter. We had no food to eat or water to drink. Children and mothers were crying. But if it wasn’t for the strength of the Yazidis, we would have all been dead. On the road to the mountain stayed a group of Yazidi men to protect those on the mountain and stop ISIS from reaching to them.

We walked for 12 hours till we reached the Syrian borders. We kept on walking, leaving Sinjar behind with tears in our eyes, escaping death and fear. From Syria we to Kurdistan where they welcomed us there warmly knew the hardships that we went through.

I met road to success Roads of Success staff in our camp. They opened the door of hope in front of me through TOT as I joined mentorship program is the beginning to overcome my psychological distress .The new challenge is that I must learn English language and that’s what I was provided by ROS through the Tech over Trauma program and I have a language so that the program helped me to enroll at the University of Liberty in the United States where I was one of the students who learned through the Internet provided by ROS to us in the camps.

This step supported me to be accepted at the college in electronic journalism department to be a journalist to raise the voice of my oppressed people and my broken homeland so I decided to work hard and read and learn to be an educated and qualified person for this task.

By Chelsey Gonzalez