When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion we were like those who dream.
A decade is a long time. A long time to maintain hope. A long time to dare to believe when the horizons are empty. A long time to imagine. A long time without substance.
We have our wonderful Auntie Kene, who for ten years has walked the camp asking everyone who has returned from the captivity of I$i$ whether they saw her son there.
You have others who spend hours making phone calls across the border every evening, all evening, looking for signs, looking for clues. I remember the days when Daoud and Barzan would begin their day's work with water red eyes, not due to lack of sleep but due to the tears wept as they faced apparent futility. It was only a couple of months ago when Daoud called me saying that he had legally declared all his family dead in order for him to become the head of his household ( currently just himself and his grandparents ) and hold legal rights as such. An agonizing decision. Such is the down side of a decade.
And then there are those mind blowing days when one of our students comes bearing candies. A sign of rejoicing. The one who was lost for a decade is found and is on her way home. And by the way, yes Auntie Keti is wisely biding her time as this is a tiny one who needs space, not questions.
Khonav was found inside the close to impenetrable Al Hol camp in Syria, a place which since the loss of territory has become the default Islamic Caliphate run mostly by radical and cruel women. It is not the refugee camps of Kurdistan where one can get a day pass to enter. Try to enter, the chances of you leaving alive are slim. It has been "home" to some 60,000 people, internally displaced Syrians, Iraqis and nationals from 60 nations and described by one in an interview with the Tahrir Institute as "a punishment camp, a terrifying and horrible place. It is one big prison." Camp residents are frequently affiliated with or supporters of the Islamic State. Children have no human rights, no access to education or medical care. Boys are separated out at the age of 12 both for fear that they will rape, and by that time that are well versed in the philosophy and ideology of I$i$.
Khonav meeting her brother for the first time in 10 years
With her brother on the way to Kurdistan
It is estimated that approximately 2600 Yezidis are "living" enslaved in the Al Hol camp. Some, those who have children ( from the rape of captors ) may not wish to leave, too many years have passed and they have become Islamicized. Some are terrified to admit that they are Yezidi, knowing the brutality of the place and that admittance of identity could cost their life. And then there are still a few brave rescuers who go under the cover of dark, highly disguised, looking for those who have been held hostage for just over ten years, and every now and then, they find one.
A couple of months ago they found Khonav, who was kidnapped and separated from her family who also were taken into captivity, at the age of six months. She appears to have no memory until around five years ago when she was taken to Al Hol camp along with her aunt who went under the Islamic name of Layla ( her birth name being Aziza ). Layla had a daughter by one of her captors, called Hajar. Khonav was known as Maryam during her captivity.
Although we know the rescuers, we do not ask questions for everyone’s security, including ours. We do not need to know details.
Khonav told us that life in the camp was very difficult, with them barely leaving their tent apart from a six monthly visit to the local market. They had no money to purchase anything. A food basket was distributed once a month. That was it. Basically foodless confinement for five years.
She is now ten, she does not remember her mother, she speaks only Arabic but as she plays with the children she is beginning to speak Kurdish. She is reunited with her brother and older sister whom she also does not remember, both of whom are our students. She is like one who dreams. She has never played before in her life. Everything that she does from this point on, is a first time. Everything at the moment is totally awesome for her.
Prime Minister of the Kurdish Region of Iraq, Mr. Masrour Barzani, recently ( always better late than never ) passed a law saying that every returnee from the captivity of I$I$ has the right to full and free education. You may remember that in past years one of the reasons for survivors to leave the country was that they had no legal access to education, having no ID documents, no parents, and no money to go to court to obtain status for education. ( When working with the Ministry of Migration to go abroad, their documents were funded. )
For now little Khonav plays, she has connected particularly with two of our girls, also separated from their mothers at a very young age and raised in captivity. But soon she will have to go to school as a ten year old with children of 6 and begin to catch up on the years stolen from her.
And she will. For now she enjoys the taste, the sound and the smell of freedom, to be a child, to run and jump, play with rabbits, touch the horses, paint and eat cake.
“Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: Then they said among the nations, the Lord has done great things for them. Bring back our captivity.”
Psalm 126
Bring back our captivity.
Addendum:
Journalists and photographers have come and gone over the years. It’s part of the baggage of genocide. Most make a huge fuss prior to their arrival, then disappear and nothing.
Claire from Wales, living in Egypt was different. It was a mutual love affair, we knew that she “got it” and that she was going to do something.
She came a year ago, and then again always saying that she was looking for the right platform for her story. Here it is. Newsweek.
I share with you because it's a picture of Triumph. It’s the Like Dreamers for Daoud and Barzan. They have been seen. Which after their release from captivity was their dream. To be seen.
Thanks to Claire Thomas and Newsweek.
Comments