Tranquillity, only in a name

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Only two months ago, Naima, 22, gave birth to her first child, a boy named Riad.  But, her first child’s birth was not in her hometown in the Sinjar district of Iraq’s Nineva Province as she had imagined.  It was several days away on foot, over desert and mountains.  Naima, whose name in Arabic means “comfort” or “tranquility”, traveled by foot for days before finally delivering her newborn among strangers at a clinic in Dahuk Province where her family fled after war enveloped their minority Yazidi community in Nineva. 

Today, Naima lives with her young baby and extended family in the small administrative office of a school – a space scattered with mattresses and blankets, many just recently received in a World Vision distribution.  Three couches are pushed against the walls; two boxes are stacked in a corner and Teenagers, once in school, are chatting.  Thirteen family members share this room, nine are children.

More than 500 schools in Dahuk Province remain occupied, but local authorities are eager to start the school year, which has already been delayed by two months. 

The family is surviving on government assistance and donations from the local and international community.  Each morning, they receive a simple breakfast and every other day each family receives five pieces of pita bread.  World Vision has provided blankets, foam mattresses, hygiene kits, and jerry cans, to families living in the school. But much more is needed.

Dahuk Province is hosting nearly 500,000 displaced persons.  Across the country, there are over 1.8 million Iraqis who have fled their homes, seeking safe shelter.  Some have been displaced two or three times.  Nearly all of them fear returning home.

Naima’s father-in-law, Samer*, draws a cell phone from his pocket, and pulls up two photos on the device: the first, a man, the second, a fair-haired child.

With sad eyes, he speaks of his brother, Elias, who was captured and killed this past August, and Elias’ 19-month-old daughter, Sanjari, who was captured and taken away.

"My mother, my father and all of my siblings were taken... We do not know what has happened to them,” says Aisha*.

Since their escape from Sinjar almost two months ago, the family has received no news of his wife Aisha’s* family.  Twelve of them are missing.  “My mother, my father and all of my siblings were taken,” she says flatly. “We do not know what has happened to them.” 

While the conflict continues, the United Nations reports that more than five million Iraqis are in need of humanitarian assistance.

Families sharing spaces at this school, do not know how they will cope with winter or where they will seek shelter if they can no longer stay in the school. More than 500 schools in Dahuk Province remain occupied, but local authorities are eager to start the school year, which has already been delayed by two months.  For these families, the unknown is daunting. It is overshadowed only by thoughts of loved ones who are missing and their homes and lives they left behind.

Tears well in Samer’s eyes as he looks at his daughter, and then to his wife who is holding their grandson so very close. Too many questions, too few answers, and no idea of what the future may bring. 

 

World Vision distributed mattresses, blankets, hygiene kits, and jerry cans to Naima, Samer, Aisha, and 127 other families sheltering in two schools and surroundings in Zakho district, Dahuk Province, part of a programme assisting internally displaced persons in northern Iraq.

*Names have been changed to protect the identities of those involved.