Child Protection Iraq Project #21523

Yezidi Children's Safe Space

by Free Yezidi Foundation

Project Report | Nov 27, 2018
Giving Tuesday, it's all about giving!

By Pari Ibrahim | Executive Director

Giving Tuesday, it's all about giving!

Dear Friends,

The holiday season has begun and in light of this giving time of year, we urge you to remember to support the Free Yezidi Foundation. With your generous gift, you can help ensure that Yezidi survivors have a bright future and are able to recover from traumas they should have never had to endure. On this Giving Tuesday please support the Free Yezidi Foundation in our work to serve the women and children of the Yezidi community.

One example of what we have done so far:

Community Sensitisation Activities in Khanke IDP Camp
Fall 2018

From April to June 2018, FYF psychologists offered lay counseling / basic MHPSS worker training to Yezidi women in Khanke IDP camp in two separate courses. The first one was a 10 week course with 2 hour weekly classes, and the second was an intensive full-time course for 6 days. The aim of these courses is to build capacity for basic mental health support work among the Yezidi women. 15 of our trainees have successfully graduated from both courses and they are now working for FYF. They call themselves Harikara, meaning "helper" in Kurmanji language. This project is funded and overseen by the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women.

FYFteam discussing trauma and recovery with men in the community

After graduating, the Harikara ran a community sensitazation pilot, visiting tents and talking to camp residents about the impact of trauma on the community and about common mental health difficulties. They also taught the residents simple coping strategies, such as breathing exercises. With the support of our staff, the Harikara prepared a mental health information leaflet to distribute during their community work. Our community leaflet is both in Arabic and Kurmamji and uses illustrations for residents who might have difficulties in reading.

Trauma, recovery, and stabilisation techniques with women and girls

The pilot was a success on all fronts. The Harikara themselves were very enthusiastic, gaining confidence and respect. They reached 104 members of the community in one week, and were able to refer those who needed more help to appropriate caregivers. The sessions were appreciated, especially as they were given by members of the Yezidi community. By the end of November 2018, the Harikara have visited 187 tents and provided basic information about psychological education and care to nearly one thousand people.

FYF is run by Yezidi women who are empowered to share knowledge and strength with others

Funding for this innovative project will expire midway through 2019, and we hope to continue to make sure our Harikara can keep doing their fantastic work with our community. Aside from this we have other great projects that you can support. If you would like to contribute, please see below.

For European donations, please click here.

U.S. tax deductible donations can be made to our specific project through the following links:
Children’s Center
Women’s Center
Justice Project

I would like to thank our Foundation's friends and donors, and I hope we can count on your support for the coming year.

Sincerely,

- Pari Ibrahim
Executive Director
Free Yezidi Foundation

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Oct 16, 2018
Yezidi Nadia Murad wins Nobel Peace Prize

By Pari Ibrahim | Executive Director

FYF Statement - Nadia Murad wins Nobel Peace Prize

Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad

Dear Friends,

Before ISIS began its genocidal campaign against our people, hardly anyone had heard of the Yezidis, our community, our religion, or our culture. Now, after this tragedy, the world knows who we are and what we have suffered. We are very proud of Nadia Murad for winning the Nobel Peace Prize and her struggle to help the Yezidis.

Sadly and incredibly, there are still thousands of Yezidi women and girls missing. Four years later, there are still thousands of women and girls who are either suffering as sex slaves or have been killed. Sex slaves, in 2018, because of our religion.

Thankfully, thousands of women and girls like Nadia have escaped or been rescued. It is important for the international community to remember that many of those survivors are living in huts, tents, or unfinished buildings with little access to daily needs, much less psychological care. It is absolutely imperative that the good will and sympathy extended to Nadia also reaches the thousands of other survivors who are in desperate need. We believe the Nobel Peace Prize can galvanize action and sympathy to the Yezidi cause. This must not be seen as a chance for superficial photos, grandstanding, or entertainment by governments or opportunists, but instead should catalyze meaningful humanitarian aid and human rights responses. The failure to uphold the responsibility to protect and standing treaties on genocide and crimes against humanity cannot be ameliorated by prizes or congratulatory messages. There must be real action, and there must be justice.

Nadia’s Nobel Peace Prize could be a great opportunity to sensitize the international community about the Yezidi genocide and make people aware of the current difficulties that the Yezidis face living in IDP camps.

The Yezidis have not obtained accountability and more needs to be done in order to take the ISIS perpetrators to real trials in courts of law. We urge lawyers and human rights actors to see this as a serious matter. Nadia also called on the international community to provide aid to the rebuilding of the Yezidi villages that have been destroyed by ISIS. The destruction, the instability and the lack of security have forced Yezidis to live in IDP camps and have prevented them from returning home.

Although there is the ongoing struggle to advance and defend the needs and rights of Yezidis, it must be recalled that survivors are individual people and have their own rights and needs. We continue to urge all actors to fairly respect Yezidi survivors of sexual violence as people, not only for their value in recounting the atrocities committed against them.

We applaud Nadia for her tireless advocacy and stand in solidarity with all Yezidi survivors of sexual violence, now and in the future.

Sincerely,

Pari Ibrahim
Executive Director
Free Yezidi Foundation

To keep supporting the Yezidi community please visit our website or our Global Giving Page.

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Jul 25, 2018
FYF Invites You to Remember 3 August in Washington

By Pari Ibrahim | Executive Director

Remember 3 August

FYF Invites You to Remember 3 August in Washington DC

FYF hosts an annual vigil in Washington, DC on 3 August. Please join us again this year
to show support for Yezidi survivors.

Dear Friends,

On 3 August 2014, ISIS terrorists overran the town of Sinjar (Shingal), carrying out a pre-meditated plan of mass murder, violence, kidnapping, rape, and other crimes against the Yezidi civilians because of their religion. The attacks have been widely described as genocide, including by the US State Department.

To mark the fourth anniversary of the genocide perpetrated against the Yezidis, the Free Yezidi Foundation and the American Ezidi Center call upon concerned citizens to join the vigil in front of the White House and express support and solidarity with Yezidis.

Survivors of the Yezidi genocide face immense challenges in trying to rebuild their lives. Sadly, even upon the liberation of Mosul, thousands of Yezidis are still held captive by ISIS terrorists. Meanwhile, survivors seek to improve their lives, despite three years of displacement. Most Yezidis now live in IDP camps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

The Free Yezidi Foundation and the American Ezidi Center would also like to express support for other minority communities affected by the ISIS terror attacks, including Iraqi Christians, who have also suffered enormously.

The Free Yezidi Foundation and American Ezidi Center invite everyone to stand in solidarity with Yezidis on 3 August

This is a day to remember the suffering of the Yezidi people and to show the world that Yezidis are not alone. I would like to thank our Foundation's supporters and friends, and I hope many of you join us again with a candle on August 3rd.

Sincerely,

Pari Ibrahim
Executive Director
Free Yezidi Foundation

Links:

For more information please click here.

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