Yazidi children find a new home in Duhok orphanage

Record ID: 942213

  • Title: Yazidi children find a new home in Duhok orphanage
  • Date: 7th December 2017
  • Summary: DOHUK, KURDISTAN, IRAQ (RECENT - NOVEMBER 28, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CHILDREN SITTING IN THE YARD OF THE HARMAN OUR BRIDGE ORPHANAGE VARIOUS OF CHILDREN SITTING ON MATS IN YARD CHANTING GIRL KICKING A FOOTBALL IN YARD CHILDREN SITTING ON MAT IN YARD HARMAN ORPHANAGE CENTRE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, AL-YAS JAMIL, WRITING AT TABLE INSIDE CENTRE
  • Embargoed: 21st December 2017 11:00
  • Keywords: Yazidi orphans Harman centre German charity Ourbridge Iraq Sinjar Kurdistan
  • Location: DUHOK, IRAQ
  • Reuters ID: LVA0017AX11SL
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Yazidi children who survived the 2014 massacre of the religious minority in Sinjar by Islamic State have found a new home at a German-funded orphanage in Duhok in the Kurdish autonomous region.
    At least 520 children are registered at the Harman orphanage centre, founded by the German foundation Our Bridge.
    The Yazidi area in northern Iraq had previously been home to about 400,000. In a matter of days, more than 3,000 Yazidis were killed and about 6,800 kidnapped, either sold into slavery or conscripted to fight for Islamic State as the religious minority came under attack by Islamic State.
    20 children currently live at the centre, while another 500 attend sports and drawing sessions among other sessions. Each child receives funding from Our Bridge.
    "We receive 21 euros for each orphan monthly as an assistance paid by German Our Bridge Organisation," explained the centre's assistant director Al-Yas Jamil.
    The 10 employees at the centre also receive token salaries from the German organisation, but the centre is calling for more funds.
    "We call upon the international and governmental organisations to help this centre as these orphans are in need, mainly because we are now in the winter season," said Jamil.
    The children practice sports each day at the centre, and are divided into teams to compete against each other once a month, sports trainer Basma Jassim Na'mu said.
    The activities are aimed at helping the children who have lost one or both parents express their emotions.
    "Once, one of the children drew a painting of a child inside a tent crying with the words, 'I miss you Sinjar'. The painting was too influential," said Na'mu.
    In addition, mothers who survived the 2014 attack are given courses in sewing, tailoring and cooking at the centre.
    A United Nations human rights Commission of Inquiry, which declared the killings of thousands of Yazidis to be a genocide, has also said that the atrocity had not ended and that the international community was not doing enough to stop it.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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