We Are Displaced

Najla’s community, the Yazidis, are a religious minority in Iraq. Growing up, she felt that she was “missing something”, since her father was only interested in his sons receiving an education (Location 794). At age eight, Najla asked to go to school and with the support of her eldest brother, persuaded her father to allow her to attend. However, by the time she finished her primary education at age 14, Najla’s father forbade her from going to high school. Najla writes that this was a common stance in the Yazidi community, as girls are expected to become housewives rather than pursue further education or careers. To rebel against her father’s rules, Najla ran away from home and hid at a monastery in the Sinjar mountains for five days. Upon her return, her father did not speak to her for an entire year, but he eventually relented and let her go to high school.

Even before ISIS invaded northern Iraq, Najla felt that life was very hard. She reports that when she was a teenager, her brother-in-law was murdered, and she witnessed her friend and neighbor commit suicide after her family discovered she had a boyfriend. Then in August of 2014, ISIS targeted Yazidi towns and kidnapped or murdered townspeople of all ages and genders. Najla calls their actions genocidal, and shares that some townspeople began to leave the area as they were worried that their town would also be targeted.

Najla remembers when ISIS invaded her hometown. She reports that when their electricity was cut, a sign that the terrorists were likely approaching, the family packed the car to leave quickly. They slept on the roof of the house until they were woken by explosions in the distance. With 18 people in their vehicle, they left their home and escaped into the mountains. She and her family drove to Dohuk, where they lived in an unfinished concrete building with other homeless families. She felt especially relieved and fortunate after learning that ISIS had massacred many of her towns’ families. Najla was especially excited to meet Malala i, who encouraged her to believe in her dream of attending college and told her to feel confident about her accomplishments.

Maria, a refugee from Colombia, reveals that her memories of her father are vague, and she wishes she could see him again. Her father was a farmer in rural Columbia, where they lived on a property with animals and fruit trees. Maria, her mother, and her siblings left their farm abruptly one day, escaping by boat to the Colombian city Cali. Maria’s mother knew that her husband had been killed the day before, something that she hid from her children for years, and that they needed to flee the guerilla forces. The author describes how her family sought shelter in tent cities where people used plastic sheets and other garbage to create shelters. Her family suffered discrimination due to their darker skin color and rural dialect, saying they were “treated worse than animals” (Location 872).

Maria, who was only four years old at the time, remembers feeling confused about why she and her family could not go home. After several years of living in the tent encampment, where they lived in fear of the gangs who ran it, Maria’s mother sought help from an organization that assisted displaced families. They moved to a very modest, broken-down home, and Maria began participating in a youth theater program for displaced children. She and the other kids created a production based on their own experiences called “No One Can Take Away What We Carry Inside.” While the Colombian government claims the war is over, Maria’s home region is still occupied by guerilla forces, and she cannot return home.