Yezidi Children's Safe Space

Pari Ibrahim, Founder and Executive Director Free Yezidi Foundation.
Credit photo: Ralph Reutimann 

Dear Friends,

Last week I participated in the Decade of the Women forum in Iceland to promote gender equity and the Sustainable Development Goals. For me all the SDGs are important, but SDG #5 is of special value.
 

"Gender equality matters. Showing that it matters strengthens those that are living with inequality. Many of the women appreciate seeing women leaders, it shows that in the future equality can be achieved. With this in mind, strength to fight for equality rises."

 
I look every day when I wake up to the peacock I am holding in my hand in the picture above. The peacock is the symbol of the Yezidi religion. It shows me strength and beauty. I grew up in a community where women are not granted equal rights and opportunities. We are all human beings, we all belong on this earth, yet we forget or are not willing to recognize that some people of different religions or genders are not treated with respect and dignity. My peacock has equal feathers. When the peacock opens its feathers, they are all equal in length and beauty. The strength and wisdom of our people and of our gender should be recognised and respected equally as others, and we will fight until it is so.

We were invited to the event by wonderful partners and donors. Please see the information below about a generous and exciting matching campaign, up to $100,000!

DECADE OF THE WOMEN ANNOUNCES YEAR-END MATCH GRANTS
FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS

Reykjavik, Iceland - December 17, 2018.

As part of the Decade of Women Forum this week in Iceland 5th Element Group PBC and its partner Solver announced a US $1 million year-end matching grant campaign to benefit women and girls.

The first non-profit partner selected for the matching funds award is the Free Yezidi Foundation, founded by Pari Ibrahim, which is responding to the brutal genocide of the Yezidi community by ISIS, trough a variety of strategic support initiatives for women and children, from psychological services to computer skill training, that help these survivors re-enter society.

The announcement was inspired by the story of courageous vulnerability told to the world by 2018 Nobel Laureate Nadia Murad, who was made a sex slave by ISIS but escaped and then spoke out to help end the outrage of sexual violence as a weapon of war, and to secure freedom and basic rights for the Yezidi people. 

"Nadia and Pari both remind us that the fight for any cause like this is about a fight for communities, and for the dignity of individual people. The Yezidi people are emblematic of people in captivity, people neglected, all around the world."
- Jim Van Eerden,  President 5th Element

The match donation was directed trough 5th Element Group PBC and its partner Solver to address the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. Funding support was provided by Semnani Family Foundation, in connection with the work of the SDG Impact Fund. This year's campaigns all involve projects that uplift women and girls and bring attention to key aspects of the effort to help.

Read full press release here.

Nadia Murad, 2018 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

By supporting the Free Yezidi Foundation, you support Yezidi women to become leaders in our community and to fight for fair and equal treatment. Our community needs this.

If you donate by the end of this year you will double your amount with no extra cost to you. What that means is that if we raise $100, the donors will match it with $100. If we end up raising $80,000, the donors will match it with $80,000.

Every donation helps our community to address trauma and move towards recovery, provide guidance on justice and accountability, and also give humanitarian support to members of our community who are displaced and living in tents once again this winter. 

We are appreciative that you have continued to donate to our cause and your generosity and support is an encouraging reminder of why I began these projects; to help those most vulnerable in a post-genocide setting. I hope you will consider telling your friends and family to support our projects, especially since any donation will be doubled until 31st of December. 

In US/UK/Canada, you can donate to any of the following GlobalGiving links:

Yezidi women's center - programs for 2019
Yezidi children's center -  programs for 2019
Justice for Yezidi Women and Girls

In Europe or elsewhere, you can donate here:

Free Yezidi

I really hope we can, once again, count on your support.

I wish you and your loved ones Happy Holidays and best wishes in the New Year!

Sincerely,

- Pari Ibrahim
Executive Director
Free Yezidi Foundation