The day that turned black
Today marks the sixth anniversary of Islamic State's assault on Iraq's Yezidi minority, described by the United Nations as a genocide, in which thousands were killed or abducted.
Aug 3. 2014 was the day when Mount Sinjar, Yezidi's heartland, was invaded by ISIS militants who wanted to exterminate the Yezidi people group from the planet. This day is now remembered by the Yezidis as the Black Day.
A 24 year old Yezidi woman shares her story of being trapped on the desert mountain in an effort to survive the attacks. *
"Together with my mother, brother and sisters, we fled our village with thousands of other Yezidis up Mount Sinjar where we stayed for seven days."
Some Yezidi children died during this time due to the hot weather and lack of shelter, food and water.
"After then we started walking towards Syria, and then to a refugee camp in Kurdistan,"
Without shoes, the long trek was made. "It took us about 12 hours to walk there" she says.
Her father was one of the 10,000 Yezidi men who were forcibly gathered by ISIS militants and systematically murdered by gunshot; their bodies left piled in open graves.
"My village was destroyed, and to this day, many Yezidis are still missing or are in captivity with ISIS".
. . .
Broken hearted, the YouBelong team stand in solidarity with the Yezidi community today as they mourn the pain and losses from the barbaric and inhumane events of Black Day.
#youBelong #blackday #yazidi #ezidi #refugeesinaustralia
*Story interview from ABC South East SA
