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Yazidi Women are Strong Enough to Return Home

Published July 21st, 2019 - 07:20 GMT

Yazidi and Assyrian communities are indigenous to Iraq and until this day many do not know what they are because of the genocide they experience back home. 

Dozens of Yazidi women and girls systematically raped, sold and married off to jihadists after being abducted by IS from their ancestral Iraqi home have faced the same gut-wrenching dilemma. What to do about the children born of these forced unions? Now freed, the women are desperate to heal from the wounds inflicted on the conservative minority.

Psychologically too, Kheder said the Yazidi society remained too scarred by the prolonged abduction of their own people to accept raising the children of their abusers.

The most painful wound is that hundreds of men, women, and children remain missing, despite hopes they would be found after IS's "caliphate" collapsed in March.

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An Iraqi Yazidi woman sits outside the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. Of the 550,000 Yazidis in Iraq before the Islamic State (IS) group invaded their region in 2014, around 100,000 have emigrated abroad and 360,000 remain internally displaced. Roughly 3,300 Yazidis have returned from IS captivity in the last five years, only 10 percent of them men. SAFIN HAM

An Iraqi Yazidi woman sits outside the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. Of the 550,000 Yazidis in Iraq before the Islamic State (IS) group invaded their region in 2014, around 100,000 have emigrated abroad and 360,000 remain internally displaced. Roughly 3,300 Yazidis have returned from IS captivity in the last five years, only 10 percent of them men. SAFIN HAMED / AFP

Iraqi Yazidi women light candles outside the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. Of the 550,000 Yazidis in Iraq before the Islamic State (IS) group invaded their region in 2014, around 100,000 have emigrated abroad and 360,000 remain internally displaced. Roughly 3,300 Yazidis have returned from IS captivity in the last five years, only 10 percent of them men. SAF

Iraqi Yazidi women light candles outside the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. Of the 550,000 Yazidis in Iraq before the Islamic State (IS) group invaded their region in 2014, around 100,000 have emigrated abroad and 360,000 remain internally displaced. Roughly 3,300 Yazidis have returned from IS captivity in the last five years, only 10 percent of them men. SAFIN HAMED / AFP

Iraqi Yazidi women light candles outside the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. SAF

Iraqi Yazidi women light candles outside the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. SAF

An Iraqi Yazidi woman prays at the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430km northwest of the capital Baghdad, on July 16, 2019. SAFIN HAMED / AFP

An Iraqi Yazidi woman prays at the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430km northwest of the capital Baghdad, on July 16, 2019. SAFIN HAMED / AFP

An Iraqi Yezidi visits the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430km northwest of the capital Baghdad, on July 16, 2019. Of the 550,000 Yazidis in Iraq before the Islamic State (IS) group invaded their region in 2014, around 100,000 have emigrated abroad and 360,000 remain internally displaced. Roughly 3,300 Yazidis have returned from IS captivity in the last five years, only 10 percent of them men. SAFIN HAMED / AFP

An Iraqi Yezidi visits the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430km northwest of the capital Baghdad, on July 16, 2019. SAFIN HAMED / AFP

An Iraqi Yazidi visits the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. Of the 550,000 Yazidis in Iraq before the Islamic State (IS) group invaded their region in 2014, around 100,000 have emigrated abroad and 360,000 remain internally displaced. Roughly 3,300 Yazidis have returned from IS captivity in the last five years, only 10 percent of them men. SAFIN HAMED / AFP

An Iraqi Yazidi visits the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. Of the 550,000 Yazidis in Iraq before the Islamic State (IS) group invaded their region in 2014, around 100,000 have emigrated abroad and 360,000 remain internally displaced. Roughly 3,300 Yazidis have returned from IS captivity in the last five years, only 10 percent of them men. SAFIN HAMED / AFP

Iraqi Yazidi women sit outside the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. Roughly 3,300 Yazidis have returned from IS captivity in the last five years, only 10 percent of them men. SAFIN HAMED /

Iraqi Yazidi women sit outside the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. Roughly 3,300 Yazidis have returned from IS captivity in the last five years, only 10 percent of them men. SAFIN HAMED /

Iraqi Yazidi women sit outside the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. SAFIN HAMED /

Iraqi Yazidi women sit outside the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. SAFIN HAMED /

Iraq's Yazidi seamstress Shirin Ghaliyeh, 39, smiles while working at her shop in the Khonke camp for displaced persons in northwestern Iraq on June 24, 2019. SAFIN HAMED / AFP

Iraq's Yazidi seamstress Shirin Ghaliyeh, 39, smiles while working at her shop in the Khonke camp for displaced persons in northwestern Iraq on June 24, 2019. SAFIN HAMED / AFP

Iraq's Yazidi survivor Layleh Shemmo sews inside her tent in the Khonke camp for displaced persons in northwestern Iraq on June 24, 2019. Working in the Khonke displacement camp in northwest Iraq, Shemmo glances down at the name tattooed on her left hand: Kero, her husband, still missing five years after the Islamic State group rampaged across the Sinjar region. At the time, IS killed Yazidi men en masse, took boys as child soldiers and sold women as "sex slaves," with survivors streaming into shabby displa

Iraq's Yazidi survivor Layleh Shemmo sews inside her tent in the Khonke camp for displaced persons in northwestern Iraq on June 24, 2019. Working in the Khonke displacement camp in northwest Iraq, Shemmo glances down at the name tattooed on her left hand: Kero, her husband, still missing five years after the Islamic State group rampaged across the Sinjar region. At the time, IS killed Yazidi men en masse, took boys as child soldiers and sold women as "sex slaves," with survivors streaming into shabby displacement camps. SAFIN HAMED / AFP

An Iraqi Yazidi woman sits outside the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. Of the 550,000 Yazidis in Iraq before the Islamic State (IS) group invaded their region in 2014, around 100,000 have emigrated abroad and 360,000 remain internally displaced. Roughly 3,300 Yazidis have returned from IS captivity in the last five years, only 10 percent of them men. SAFIN HAM
Iraqi Yazidi women light candles outside the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. Of the 550,000 Yazidis in Iraq before the Islamic State (IS) group invaded their region in 2014, around 100,000 have emigrated abroad and 360,000 remain internally displaced. Roughly 3,300 Yazidis have returned from IS captivity in the last five years, only 10 percent of them men. SAF
Iraqi Yazidi women light candles outside the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. SAF
An Iraqi Yazidi woman prays at the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430km northwest of the capital Baghdad, on July 16, 2019. SAFIN HAMED / AFP
An Iraqi Yezidi visits the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430km northwest of the capital Baghdad, on July 16, 2019. Of the 550,000 Yazidis in Iraq before the Islamic State (IS) group invaded their region in 2014, around 100,000 have emigrated abroad and 360,000 remain internally displaced. Roughly 3,300 Yazidis have returned from IS captivity in the last five years, only 10 percent of them men. SAFIN HAMED / AFP
An Iraqi Yazidi visits the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. Of the 550,000 Yazidis in Iraq before the Islamic State (IS) group invaded their region in 2014, around 100,000 have emigrated abroad and 360,000 remain internally displaced. Roughly 3,300 Yazidis have returned from IS captivity in the last five years, only 10 percent of them men. SAFIN HAMED / AFP
Iraqi Yazidi women sit outside the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. Roughly 3,300 Yazidis have returned from IS captivity in the last five years, only 10 percent of them men. SAFIN HAMED /
Iraqi Yazidi women sit outside the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. SAFIN HAMED /
Iraq's Yazidi seamstress Shirin Ghaliyeh, 39, smiles while working at her shop in the Khonke camp for displaced persons in northwestern Iraq on June 24, 2019. SAFIN HAMED / AFP
Iraq's Yazidi survivor Layleh Shemmo sews inside her tent in the Khonke camp for displaced persons in northwestern Iraq on June 24, 2019. Working in the Khonke displacement camp in northwest Iraq, Shemmo glances down at the name tattooed on her left hand: Kero, her husband, still missing five years after the Islamic State group rampaged across the Sinjar region. At the time, IS killed Yazidi men en masse, took boys as child soldiers and sold women as "sex slaves," with survivors streaming into shabby displa
An Iraqi Yazidi woman sits outside the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. Of the 550,000 Yazidis in Iraq before the Islamic State (IS) group invaded their region in 2014, around 100,000 have emigrated abroad and 360,000 remain internally displaced. Roughly 3,300 Yazidis have returned from IS captivity in the last five years, only 10 percent of them men. SAFIN HAM
An Iraqi Yazidi woman sits outside the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. Of the 550,000 Yazidis in Iraq before the Islamic State (IS) group invaded their region in 2014, around 100,000 have emigrated abroad and 360,000 remain internally displaced. Roughly 3,300 Yazidis have returned from IS captivity in the last five years, only 10 percent of them men. SAFIN HAMED / AFP
Iraqi Yazidi women light candles outside the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. Of the 550,000 Yazidis in Iraq before the Islamic State (IS) group invaded their region in 2014, around 100,000 have emigrated abroad and 360,000 remain internally displaced. Roughly 3,300 Yazidis have returned from IS captivity in the last five years, only 10 percent of them men. SAF
Iraqi Yazidi women light candles outside the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. Of the 550,000 Yazidis in Iraq before the Islamic State (IS) group invaded their region in 2014, around 100,000 have emigrated abroad and 360,000 remain internally displaced. Roughly 3,300 Yazidis have returned from IS captivity in the last five years, only 10 percent of them men. SAFIN HAMED / AFP
Iraqi Yazidi women light candles outside the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. SAF
Iraqi Yazidi women light candles outside the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. SAF
An Iraqi Yazidi woman prays at the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430km northwest of the capital Baghdad, on July 16, 2019. SAFIN HAMED / AFP
An Iraqi Yazidi woman prays at the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430km northwest of the capital Baghdad, on July 16, 2019. SAFIN HAMED / AFP
An Iraqi Yezidi visits the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430km northwest of the capital Baghdad, on July 16, 2019. Of the 550,000 Yazidis in Iraq before the Islamic State (IS) group invaded their region in 2014, around 100,000 have emigrated abroad and 360,000 remain internally displaced. Roughly 3,300 Yazidis have returned from IS captivity in the last five years, only 10 percent of them men. SAFIN HAMED / AFP
An Iraqi Yezidi visits the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430km northwest of the capital Baghdad, on July 16, 2019. SAFIN HAMED / AFP
An Iraqi Yazidi visits the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. Of the 550,000 Yazidis in Iraq before the Islamic State (IS) group invaded their region in 2014, around 100,000 have emigrated abroad and 360,000 remain internally displaced. Roughly 3,300 Yazidis have returned from IS captivity in the last five years, only 10 percent of them men. SAFIN HAMED / AFP
An Iraqi Yazidi visits the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. Of the 550,000 Yazidis in Iraq before the Islamic State (IS) group invaded their region in 2014, around 100,000 have emigrated abroad and 360,000 remain internally displaced. Roughly 3,300 Yazidis have returned from IS captivity in the last five years, only 10 percent of them men. SAFIN HAMED / AFP
Iraqi Yazidi women sit outside the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. Roughly 3,300 Yazidis have returned from IS captivity in the last five years, only 10 percent of them men. SAFIN HAMED /
Iraqi Yazidi women sit outside the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. Roughly 3,300 Yazidis have returned from IS captivity in the last five years, only 10 percent of them men. SAFIN HAMED /
Iraqi Yazidi women sit outside the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. SAFIN HAMED /
Iraqi Yazidi women sit outside the Temple of Lalish, in a valley near the Kurdish city of Dohuk about 430 kilometres northwest of the capital Baghdad, on April 16, 2019, during a ceremony marking the Yazidi New Year. SAFIN HAMED /
Iraq's Yazidi seamstress Shirin Ghaliyeh, 39, smiles while working at her shop in the Khonke camp for displaced persons in northwestern Iraq on June 24, 2019. SAFIN HAMED / AFP
Iraq's Yazidi seamstress Shirin Ghaliyeh, 39, smiles while working at her shop in the Khonke camp for displaced persons in northwestern Iraq on June 24, 2019. SAFIN HAMED / AFP
Iraq's Yazidi survivor Layleh Shemmo sews inside her tent in the Khonke camp for displaced persons in northwestern Iraq on June 24, 2019. Working in the Khonke displacement camp in northwest Iraq, Shemmo glances down at the name tattooed on her left hand: Kero, her husband, still missing five years after the Islamic State group rampaged across the Sinjar region. At the time, IS killed Yazidi men en masse, took boys as child soldiers and sold women as "sex slaves," with survivors streaming into shabby displa
Iraq's Yazidi survivor Layleh Shemmo sews inside her tent in the Khonke camp for displaced persons in northwestern Iraq on June 24, 2019. Working in the Khonke displacement camp in northwest Iraq, Shemmo glances down at the name tattooed on her left hand: Kero, her husband, still missing five years after the Islamic State group rampaged across the Sinjar region. At the time, IS killed Yazidi men en masse, took boys as child soldiers and sold women as "sex slaves," with survivors streaming into shabby displacement camps. SAFIN HAMED / AFP

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