NORTHERN IRAQ — Samaritan’s Purse is helping internally displaced families in Iraq heal from the ongoing wounds of trauma caused by ISIS’ reign of terror.

They’re addressing these painful realities by sponsoring trauma recovery classes for men, women, and children in multiple locations across Iraq. From Mosul Family Center on the central Nineveh Plains, to Grace Community Center near the mountains, and in the displacement camps in between, we are helping whole families learn how to deal with all they’ve seen and experienced in recent years.

Matthew Nowery – Samaritan’s Purse:

Forced to flee. Forced to live in war after war, fight after fight. They have been physically harmed when ISIS came into their village, into their town. Dads that are still wondering what happened to their daughters. Iraqis that are still in internally displaced camps. They are the most vulnerable population inside of Iraq at this time. This is an ongoing trauma.

Haley Wilson – Samaritan’s Purse:

In Healing Wounds of Trauma, men and women are taken through practical steps of what it looks like to walk through the journey of grief. They talk about what it means to bring their pain to God. They wrestle through lessons on forgiveness. These are just some basic tools that they’re given to leave our center equipped to begin the journey to heal from their trauma.

Fada Yousif – Samaritan’s Purse:

The woman here is the base of the house, but she is not considered as a full citizen. So no one care about her feelings, what she’s facing. But we encourage them to talk and talk and talk and talk. There are lots of things inside their hearts want to express about. My hope for these women is to fix their relation with themselves, to love themselves, to love each other, and to love God, and to be free with their relation with God.

Thair Zahra – Samaritan’s Purse:

People share that every time they come to this center, they open their hearts and they feel rest. I think about myself — when I went through the same trauma in 2014, when I was displaced. I lost hope and I even lost faith in God during that time. Through these classes, I’ve experienced that what I saw during that time was evil, but it was a plan from God to put me in the place where I am today. 

Ako – Class Attendee:

Before I came here, I felt suffocated. There was a heavy weight on my heart. But after experiencing these classes and spending time with the people here, I began to feel that my life is worthy and the future is bright. Now I can smile again. I feel that there’s hope. 

Rana Barbar – Samaritan’s Purse:

A lot of children have trauma because they have been suffering through the war. They’ve seen a lot of death. Many of them lost their families before their very eyes. There was bombing all over the place. All of this has affected their psychology and their personalities. It’s incredible to describe what God’s love has been doing here. We’ve had struggles. Many here have psychological issues, but we’ve helped them with the love of God. They were finally able to love themselves, to love each other, and to handle the loss and manage their feelings really well. 

Samer Raad George – Samaritan’s Purse:

The emotional needs are huge. Since this is not a normal camp, the people of the camp mostly are the remaining families of ISIS. They were not allowed to work, not allowed to leave the camp unless they get previous approval. So they kind of feel trapped, and also many emotions when it comes to the stigma of being a family connected to a member of ISIS. There is a lot of needs on a daily basis that make them think that they are not enough, or they are not loved, or they are not accepted.

A place like this is trying to help these kids at least start to dream again, being loved and accepted so they will change their worldview that they were being trapped in.

Fada Yousif:

This is a place of love and the new relation of God. He know already what they are suffering from. God is love, and when you love, you feel free and you do all beautiful things. You can’t hate, you can’t harm if you are in love. It’s so important. It’s a place you start to learn how to fly.

Samaritan’s Purse is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. Since 1970, Samaritan’s Purse has helped meet the needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God’s love through His Son, Jesus Christ. The organization serves the Church worldwide to promote the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Samaritan’s Purse International Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) program is committed to meeting the critical needs of victims of war, poverty, famine, disease, and natural disaster. We stand ready to respond at a moment’s notice whenever and wherever disaster strikes. The DART specializes in providing water, food, shelter, and medical care while sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.

CONTACT: Kaitlyn Lahm, news@samaritan.org

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