An international organization helps displaced people returning to Sinjar rebuild their lives

POSTED ON[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] BY [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

[size=52]An international organization helps displaced people returning to Sinjar rebuild their lives[/size]

[size=45]Translated by / Hamed Ahmed[/size]
[size=45]With the implementation of the “Horticultural Farming” program, Samaritan’s Purse, an international humanitarian organization, works to encourage displaced Yazidi families residing in camps to return to their original areas and villages to help them revive their neglected fields and agricultural lands to be a source of livelihood for them and enable them to rebuild their lives.[/size]
[size=45]Laila, a Yazidi widow of a family of seven people, was forced to leave her village in the Sinjar region when ISIS invaded their area in August 2014. They left behind everything they had worked on in their village and fled with their lives to a safe haven. They ended up in a camp for the displaced. She continued to reside. She has been with her family for more than seven years.[/size]
[size=45]The village where Laila lives in the Sinjar region has become disgusting and barren after being neglected for years following its occupation by ISIS, but now it is grassy and full of greenery and plants of vegetables, fruits and olive trees, thanks to an agricultural empowerment program donated by the Samaritan’s Purse Charitable Organization, which is an American humanitarian organization that helps... Affected returning displaced persons are able to establish agricultural projects that generate income to support them in their lives. It is a project that encourages displaced people residing in camps to return to their homes.[/size]
[size=45]The widow, Laila, 55 years old, had suffered a lot while caring for her children who had no breadwinner after their father was killed by ISIS militants. The greatest sadness she experienced was losing the beautiful, happy, and quiet life they had previously lived in their village. She always had the hope of returning to her area.[/size]
[size=45]In the year 2021, Laila decided to return to Sinjar and her village after spending seven years in the camp. She found that farmers had succeeded in planting fruit and vegetable trees in Sinjar land, which had been abandoned and neglected for years. This scene gives an indication of the beginning of a new life among family and friends.[/size]
[size=45]The area looked as it did before when she left the village, and this also gave Laila hope that she could return to rebuild her life again, and this is what she was actually able to achieve. That was two years ago when she heard about the charitable organization’s agricultural program and asked for their help.[/size]
[size=45]The program of the organization, Samaritan's Purse, is to teach farmers how to use modern agricultural techniques by planting heat-tolerant fruit trees, using a drip irrigation system that it prepares for them, and then planting vegetable crops among these trees, which prepares the seeds for them.[/size]
[size=45]This year, the charitable organization invited Laila to participate in the horticultural program, and her previous experience in agriculture was a strong factor in developing her skills in this field. Since then, the organization has provided training courses for it and equipped it with an irrigation system, fruit tree seedlings, and seeds for vegetable crops.[/size]
[size=45]Today, Laila feels proud as she succeeded in planting olive, fruit, and pistachio trees on her farm, and between the rows of these trees she planted the seeds of tomatoes, potatoes, onions, and peanuts. She has now already begun harvesting the vegetables her farm produced and selling them in the market while her trees wait for the fruits they will bear.[/size]
[size=45]The agricultural crops that Laila succeeded in harvesting give her a feeling of comfort and stability because she is now able to provide food and income for her family and community. She hopes that other displaced people who visit Sinjar will see her green farm and be encouraged to return, as happened to her.[/size]
[size=45]Laila says that she has great gratitude for the charitable organization that helped her create a source of livelihood for her, which gave her new hope for herself and the rest of the families around her.[/size]
[size=45]The organization indicates that it distributed hundreds of boxes of seeds, as well as seedlings of olive trees, figs, pistachios, and other types of fruit to farmers returning from displacement camps to their villages in Sinjar to encourage others to return.[/size]
[size=45]The organization's agricultural program has strengthened the hopes of the widow, Laila, and the rest of the returning participants to rebuild their lives again after years of tragedies and difficult living conditions in the camps.[/size]
[size=45]Reports indicate that there are still about 300,000 Yazidis, the majority of whom are distributed in 16 camps in the Kurdistan region and various areas outside the camps, where the cases of destruction and lack of services that have befallen their homes, villages, and infrastructure hinder their return to their areas. Official statistics indicate that the extent of the destruction of infrastructure in Sinjar reached 80% and 75% of the destruction rates in homes.[/size]
[size=45]Last month, the Ministry of Immigration and Displacement announced the return of 292 displaced Yazidis from Dohuk camps to their original residential areas in Sinjar.[/size]
[size=45]From the Samaritan's Purse website[/size]
[size=45][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]