Kurdistan

"I made cakes before ISIS took over our village, and after we fled I wasn't able to work because I had to look after a sick family member for three years. I also had no money to get a business going again after we fled. The Lotus Flower then provided funds to kickstart the Baking Sisters business, a bakery near the entrance of Rwanga (Qadiya) camp, where I live."

"I am able to provide for my daughter, who was born in the first year of displacement - I wasn't able to do that before it. I buy whatever she needs. I don't bring my daughter here right now, due to Covid-19, but before the virus, she was here with me every day."

"I give awareness sessions about gender-based Violence (GBV) and Protection against Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) within the displacement camp in which I live. At The Lotus Flower, we try to empower women by providing opportunities to learn new skills, earn an income, and support themselves and their families." 

"However, empowerment sometimes comes with a new set of conflict, mainly, with male members of the families unhappy with the new roles or attitudes of the women.”

“My name is Khunaf. I'm from Shingal/ Khanasor complex. I came to Qadiya. I would like to thank [Lotus Flower] for building this shop for us. We had no salary, no nothing, we thank you so much for what you brought for us"

"We call this green grains Kazean - we get it from trees and wash it, the ones float on water we throw away,and the ones go down water we collect it and put it into these bags and sell each bag for 3500 IQD.”

"I found that women were in a very weak situation [and] I said that sports will help them to protect themselves when they aren't with their brothers or parents. Even when women have no weapons with them, they can save themselves from those bad guys."

"Many of my students said that they were getting better mentally after being trained. They were tired mentally and psychologically before training. So, I taught them sports and boxing together."

"I work for The Lotus Flower organization - my job at the center is to give awareness sessions about Coronavirus to people near their homes throughout the camp, as well as within The Lotus Flower center."

"Without this initiative, little information would be known among the thousands of people living in close proximity to one another in the camp, about the virus and the ways to prevent the spread.”

"I used to live in Shingal, a region in Northern Iraq, but not in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Shingal is where all of the Yazidi people now living in displacement camps in KRI are from. I live in Esyian camp now. We give English courses, as well as Arabic and Kurdish courses to women."

"We teach letters first and then the meanings of words, etc. We start from zero because many of the women in the camp have no education, but know that learning new skills, especially language skills, will pave the way for a prosperous future. We want to develop our community, raise the level of education, and allow for increased employment.”

"I studied accounting at university and played soccer in my free time, but my dream is to be a journalist. I am the photographer for The Lotus Flower. I took the Storytelling Sisters photography course in the summer of 2019 and have been photographing since, as well as writing poetry that tell the stories of the photos.

"I feel like this is a big part of my identity, and I am able to express myself through photos and words. I took this picture of my father sometime last year, and he has recently passed away. I’m grieving a lot, he was a really important part of me, so this picture is one of my most prized possessions.”

"I make videos on the camp WhatsApp group for awareness about Covid-19 because we aren’t able to meet people in their homes to talk about it. While the virus is a big part of our community and the world, education has come to a halt in so many places."

"Online learning has become the only way for education to continue, and so we had to join the trend and teach our awareness programs in a way that people can reach them - online through Whatsapp.”

"I am an advocate for women in any way that I can be. I think the courses taught in the centers, although they focus mainly on tangible skills, are somewhat also leadership courses. Knowing skills that most in the community don’t know, makes the women that take our courses natural leaders, and encourages them to take positions of power within the community."

"Many of the women that take our courses then because the teachers of the course. That is, I think, the ultimate goal of our community - not just reaching women and girls and teaching them new skills, but also teaching them to reach into their communities to do the same.”