The genocide campaign that ISIS launched against the Yazidi religious minority in Sinjar district in 2014 resulted killing and abducting of more than ten thousand Yazidis, and displacing of more than half a million Yazidis from their homeland. The outcomes of the genocide were not only concrete but abstract! The post-war phase came up with hopelessness, powerlessness, pessimism, and depression. Since they got traumatized.
The circumstances turned unbearable. Lack of social cohesion, unemployment, and loneliness prevailed in the community, in which its members live among the rubble. Attempting to assist the community to heal, Sunrise NGO supported the painters from Sinjar city with drawing supplies and exhibited their paintings in public exhibitions.
This made the painters express their feelings. Significantly, since the community passed through a group trauma, individuals had similarity in their pain. Therefore, the contemplating the paintings made them feel that their feelings had been interpreted through those pieces of art. In addition, Sunrise NGO held public music concerts in Sinjar city. So that the inhabitants could listen to music and have fun from their houses. Finally, school-in-a-box and recreational kits were distributed to the children. So that their family members could make them entertain and learn instead of contemplating the devastation of their city.
Partner/Donor: International Organization for Migration (IOM), USAID.
Location: Sinjar city, Sinjar district, Nineveh governorate, Iraq.
Total Number of Beneficiaries: 240 (males & females)
Ages: 4-62 years old
Duration: Three Months.
