The first 5 minutes of the following BBC documentary will reveal to you the current situation of Yazidi women in Iraq. It will help you understand why Joel and I feel so passionate about this cause.

On August 2014, ISIS overtook the northern region of Iraq and evicted 40,000 Yazidi and Christian people from their homes. While most Christian minorities are tolerated, the Yazidis are considered religious infidels. This designation has allowed ISIS to perform unfathomable acts of cruelty and genocide on them. Over 5,000 Yazidis were murdered in cold blood during their exile. 2,600 Yazidi women were then kidnapped and sold as sex slaves among ISIS militants. Many stood witness as their fathers and husbands were murdered. While in captivity, they endure sexual and physical abuse on a daily basis, some women reporting being raped 5 times a day by different men.  ISIS, has even published a guide that permits the repeated rape of girls whom have not yet reached puberty, some of them as young as 8 to 10 years of age.

"Zainab Bangura, a UN special representative on sexual violence, says ISIS has institutionalized sexual slavery as a terror tactic, to a degree of cruelty that she had not witnessed even in the civil wars of Bosnia, Sudan or Somalia."

The suffering caused by these atrocities are not isolated to the Middle East. Here is a message we received from a resident of California,

“May God bless you for doing this!! I have family taken by ISIS as well. The Assyrians and Yezidis are being ignored by the world. Thank you sooooo much for what you are doing!” –San Jose, California.

WHERE DOES YOUR MONEY GO?

We started this campaign after meeting Nareen Shammo, a Yazidi woman who has dedicated the last year of her life to help these victims. She is featured in the BBC documentary above.As the campaign evolved, we were introduced to other activists and organizations that informed us as to the best way to help these women. Although paying a middlemen to negotiate the release of these girls has been the approach used by some organizations, we have learned that this may not be the best route.

First, if ISIS is informed that the funding comes from an "infidel" the women as well as does involved in the transaction are killed, thus putting the lives of these victims in high risk. Second, succesful missions have been conducted by local militia to rescue the women and children suffering at the hands of ISIS. 

We'll know more once we are in Iraq, but for now working with the militia may be the best approach.

Emergency funds will also be designated to offer psychological assistance, food, water and medication to the victims. In these efforts, we will be assisted by our local contacts and organizations at the camps.

In essence, most of the money will be used to pay for psychological assistance, medical care, water, food, and clothing for the victims. On a case by case basis, donations will also be used for any transportation costs associated with reuniting families with the women. Funds will also be allocated to any emergency needs at the refugee camps.

We will be in Iraq to assure the proper administration of funds and to film the current situation at the refugee camps, and conduct interviews with the rescued girls.

HOW IS ISIS FUNDED?

The best way to answer this question is to show you the numbers. These women and girls will continue to be abducted and sexually abused unless we join efforts to help.

In our hands lays the ability to restore sanity in the lives of these women. The time to act is now while hope still remains for both the families and the victims.

Below is our interview with Nareen Shammo filmed in Hamburg on August 18, 2015:For more information, contact us!