(2/2) We weren’t allowed to watch the news in Iraq, so we didn't know the war was coming. But my uncle who lived in New Zealand knew and so when he called, he would say, ‘You know, it might be best if you try to go to Syria. It might be a better future.’ He had...
(1/2) I was born in 1983 during the war between Iraq and Iran, and my dad was fighting on the front line. He used to visit us a few times per year. Growing up during the war wasn’t easy. We couldn’t go to school, and the sanctions really caused people to suffer...
As a child, I witnessed all the chaos that came with the war in Iraq – civil unrest, people going missing, people dying. Also, as Christian Assyrians, we experienced religious persecution, where the militia would come to your door and tell you either to convert,...
I came to Australia by boat when I was 9 years old. Our family had to leave Iraq when their lives were put in danger by Saddam Hussein for political reasons, and we heard that this was the only immediate option for us to get away. At that time, we’d never heard of...
ISIS forced 250 000 Christian families out of their homes in our village in Iraq. If you didn’t leave your house, you would be killed. They were also taking girls, and those girls never came back. My sister and I had been trying to get my parents to leave for a while...
