Yazidi in Kurdistan IDP camps and beyond need education help
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Yazidi in Kurdistan /Iraq IDP Camps, and Shingal need education help.
Update December 2024
It's now 1 year since I finished the pilot program inside of camp Mam Rashan in Kurdistan. For 2 reasons the decision was made to start teaching on line: to reach more students in the 13 other Yezidi camps immediately, and because BCF refused to give me the promised classroom. (It's the other way around, really).
It was the right decision. Early March we started on line classes with teachers from different countries.
Now, 9 months later the website draft was launched last night when I gave a presentation about our school to 2 dozen Soroptimists in Roermond (a town near Germany and Belgium). Soroptimists are professional women who work together at local, national and international levels to educate, empower and enable women and girls with an aim to improving their lives), who are financing the website!
Thanks to Angela, our treasurer, who is very active in our national and regional Soroptimist groups.
The website so far was developed by Meike, one of our board members, and it will now go to professionals who know what to do with the data bases that have to be included etc.
The group yesterday was also excited to hear that our goal is to make sure every Yezidi university student gets a new laptop before they start their 3rd year. How many students are there now? About 1000. But we will start with the 3rd year students, and hopefully within 3 years, with all your help, we can supply the incoming students also each summer
Take some time and read the genocide experiences from the yezidi themselves
Thank you for all your support and care for the Yezidi below the birth of the website draft.
If any of you are experienced in website development , we'd love to hear your input
Joyous holiday season to all
UPDATE October 2024
it's been a very busy half year. we have volunteer English teacher (degreed and with TESOL certificates) from India, Pakistan, Iraq, Lesotho, England, Americans in the Netherlands etc and almost 200 Yezidi students registered.
One of our young teachers is a young student in the Netherlands, she also works and hadls limited time. So, we asked her to be a reading teacher and this is working our great!! Iraq does not have a reading culture, And our students did not grow up with fun books as children. Reading for Pleasure is unknown to them. So this teacher started with Charlotte's Web and the students love love love her class.
This week another shipment was picked up for the Yezidi in IDP camp Mam Rashan: clothing for young and old, uniforms for sports teams, arts &crafts and musical items. About 30 boxes are on their way at an average of €18 /box thus €300-400/ shipment
What else is New and /or different?
Since early August we have an Administrator. A Yezidi young man, 28, who finished his Bachelors Degree with a scholarship in Lithuania 2,5 years ago. He then came to the Netherlands and is still in limbo., still. ot given residency status..He taught himself really good and impressive Dutch with Duolingo! He could go to work immediately... but... sadly, we also got some right-wing people in our government who want to close the borders.... Omer is taling a lot off my shoulder: registering, testing the students, connecting teachers with new groups, also keeping track who is in need of a donated (older). smartphone here in the Netherlands.. (We keep track of many young Yezidi who are here as asylum seekers, their parents and families back in Iraq /Kurdistan)
Website: still in the "under construction" stage but the good news is that the Soroptimist want to make a solid donation to get the website designed and up in the air. how wonderful is that!!! We tried to find volunteers to help us, and we did find one who can help us with phase one. So this month we will have discussions to further this project.
The domain is YazidiAtSchool.org
Teachers:
Earlier this summer I took 2 teachers under my wings, combined their classes and then taught the students, slowly turning it over to the 2 teachers and after 4 weeks they were more or less ready to start with their own groups.
Teacher training turns out to be much needed and I discussed this with 2 universities in the USA: my Alma Mater and a religious university in Utah. I have been given great advice and hopefully we can collaborate in the future.
I've introduced Reading For Pleasure to all classes. Some teachers -who were trained in old fashioned teaching methods- are hesitant about this. And I explain: we want to teach correct communication. We are not training grammarians. We teach with the Acquisition Method and grammar will follow. And reading is part of this focus.
Currently we have 4 teachers who need to be supported with their internet subscriptions. The hours needed each week to teach, from 3 to 5, plus attend weekly teachers meetings, and with me, plus researching materials for their classes, and staying in touch with their students etc is beyond what some can afforrd. on average the costs for a needed subscription is $40.- per teacher per month. We hope to receive enough in donations to also make it possible to offer full subscriptions to all teachers who need it as long as they teach for us..
Iraq wants all IDP camps emptied. This also goes for the Yezidi. Iraq provides some money to rebuild the destroyed houses in Shingal, the homeland of the Yezidi. Ten years ago ISIS not only murdered thousands of Yezidi and took awylay thousands of you g girls, they looted the houses, took everything to their liking and left the house in rubble. But many new families started in the camps: these young families have no land to build a house and are not sure how this will be solved
Is Shingal safe for the Yezidi? They do not think so. They told me: it is not a question IF we will be killed again but when...
The money the Iraq provides for the returning families is not enough to rebuild, certainly not to build. And, the infrastructure is in a desperate state: water, electricity, schools, medical facilities... If somebody needs to see a doctor, they have to travel 1-2 hours...
Schools: children in the most rural areas, 1 to 2 hours walking from a school, often do not go at all because they parents do not have $20.-/per child per month for a bus. These are big problems which we cannot tackle.
But with your help we can support our teachers to continue teaching as much as they can, we can continue supporting the families with clothing, we can clget the website up and going and maintained and grow..
please share in your network: we are always looking for volunteer teachers of English who can teach 2-3 times each week.
And please consider making monthly donations so we can become more stable with our programs, possibly funding workshops and classes for a teacher trainer in our own group who will stay on.
Thank you , thank you, thank you all for your support, your interest, your continued concern for the Yazidi who are dear to.my heart.
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UPDATE April 2024
We are growing and growing, we now have 100 students registered and have just interviewed 7 more volunteer teachers from around the world. They are professionals, teaching English mostly full time and their personal lives, experienced with on-line teaching and their hearts wide open for the Yazidi. So they are volunteering and committing themselves to a minimum of 6 months teaching the Yazidi.
How beautiful it is to really know and experience that We Are All One?
Our biggest expense is now the transportation costs for the electronics, clothing, art*craft materials, toners for the laser printer (at 50 euro per each) etc. So your donations continue to be needed to keep Yazidi@School effective in serving the Yazidi in the tent camps in Kurdistan.
My heart is full of gratitude to you all and everyone involved in this project
UPDATE March 2024
Exciting news!!!!
This week Yazidi@School is starting the English on-line classes to 61 Yazidi students in the IDP camps in Kurdistan! Six volunteer teachers are full of expertise and enthusiasm. Only two are are retired, the other four are still working! One just graduated! What a dream come through for so many!
My plan was from the start, that ALL camps should have the same opportunities. Most programs are short term and in one camp only But there are 14 Yazidi camps.
When I lived inside camp Mam Rashan last fall, I realized how difficult it would be to expand the program to all the other camps. It would become very expensive with renting houses, transportation, etc. It would need a big strong organization with a lot of financial clout. But currently I am just a tiny NGO, with four women on board from ages 22 to 77 and thanks to so many caring friends and people the in-person pilot program has been made possible! The outcome is different than expected but in fact much better!
Starting the online classes, we now have 61 students from 5 different camp locations in Iraq! How exciting is this!!
A wonderful young engineer, just graduated, is now a curriculum developer and full time teacher at Sinjar Academy (no engineering jobs to be found there) and he has been very helpful and encouraging in getting our footing. Thank you Alaa!
What is the future? More teachers, from all over the globe (if you are interested: please contact me!), So we can establish a solid continuous program for the Yazidi who need a good English foundation for their futures.
And, looking into the future, (in 2,5 years I will be 80) I have approached two young women, Hanna from Austria and Meike from Holland. Both well education and working with refugees, migration etc and both planning their next degrees: Hanna PhD and Meike her Masters. They have consented to and are accepted officially on the board of Yazidi@School. With their education, experience, and youth, Yazidi@School is heading into a strong future.
As to the other side projects of Yazidi@School:
We continue sending boxes with needed items. Twenty boxes were shipped 3 weeks ago, filled with old smart phones, tablets, even a couple of laptops; clothing, flutes, arts & crafts and so much more.
and a large store in the Netherlands has been running actions with their clients for the Yazidi in the camps and much is being donated: from children's clothing to arts and crafts items!.
The printers are now spread all over the camp to be shared by teachers and university student. We also provide the toners which is a costly items: Only the HP toners will work in these Laser Jet printers.... at a hefty price of about $ 50.- each. The teachers in the camp and the university students are greatly helped with these printers since they have much printing to do.
As to the electronics: about half come without a factory reset and without a code: people who donate them do not remember their passwords or codes, because they've been lying in a drawer for several years... I did find one off the road phone store who has been able to crack a few of them, but still too many are locked. Anyone have an idea?
At this moment the average monthly costs of supplying the Yazidi in the camps with everything we send (donated and purchased) runs at about $600.- so:
Please support, and share this GoFundMe page se we can continue to support the Yazidi in their lives now and for their futures.
UPDATE February 2024
Five laser printers are in camp Mam Rashan as of this week, with 4 more on the way. One of those last four will go to Shingal, the homeland of the Yazidi, but
The first printers are distributed around the camp by Wissam, English teacher and Mustafa, math teacher in the camp. They have taken inventory where the university students are located, where the camp teachers are and with the next three for this camp (and lots of ink toners) it brings a new era to the education in the camp. Teachers also were given laminators, lots of plastic sheets and double sided tape for their classrooms.
Nobody "owns" the printers, it is meant for group usage. Yazidi are good at sharing so this is a great solution.
!2 boxes with printers, laminators, clothing, arts &crafts, toys arrived within 16 days! And 15 more boxes are getting picked up this week with the last of the printers for this camp.
After we find out how well this works in this camp, we can expand to the next camp with the printers and laminators.
But the bigger news is that my team and I are preparing for online English classes to the survivors and their people in the Yazidi in IDP camp Mam Rashan. From the start I have stated that I want to start at Mam Rashan, and then make it expandable to the other camps. Because we are going on line, this is already possible. It would have been difficult getting teachers to live in Kurdistan and near each camp. Living inside of a camp is not an option so the expenses of renting apartments or small houses, and cars for transportation, would have increased the budget by the thousands of dollars / Euros.
We have 60 students registered from level 0 to C2. Most students can only take classes after 4PM Iraq time which is 6PM Amsterdam time in the winter. In the summer it will only be 1 hour difference.
My team are retired or almost retired teachers and administrators and one lawyer, but they can teach only once or twice a week. So more teachers are needed.
I would like to find Students who (almost) finished their education in teaching languages and are fluent in English. Students and/or teachers worldwide, who can give some time. Preferably four times a week, and for 1,5 hours each day so that the students will have a "normal" and needed structure for their English learning.
So please, those of you with University connections in your family/friend/school/work network: Can you ask around? From Canada, to Australia, to South Africa, the UK, the USA?
Please share in your network, my requests and also this continued fundraising.
Thank you all, we are all one, and nobody does anything alone.
with love and Light
Margaret
Yazidi@School
UPDATE January 30 2024
Exiting things are happening! My tiny house was stuffed to the brim with 16 boxes in preparation of shipping to Yezidi IDP Camp Mam Rashan: Older Smartphones & tablets, even some printers. Five new laser printers, 25 toners and laminators for teachers and students to share. And clothing from practical to fancy for their weddings (the girls look like queens then: " the only time we can forget that we live in a camp"). And toys, arts & crafts, games ((English) matching), and coloring materials!! Twelve boxes were picked up last Saturday. Four more are being readied also with lots of small soft cuddly toys.
And.... because of yet another newspaper article, this time for the reputable Dutch NRC and my posting on LinkedIn with a request for on line teachers, we now have a team of 5 teachers, preparing for on-line classes to the Yezidi in the camps!. Students who registered when I was living in the camp, have reregistered, and calling in their friends. Everybody needs English!
Thank you all for your continued support of the NGO Yazidi@School!
If you want to follow me on WhatsApp, let me know your phone number and I will add you to the group of donators and interestees :-)
with love and gratitude
margaret
Yazidi@School
+31-(0)6-4801-7151
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UPDATE October 2023. Angela (treasurer of the Dutch NGO Yazidi@School) and Soroptimist, accompanied me for one week. The first night we slept with a family because the one-room apartment was not yet ready. In one week we accomplished a lot, ending with a working regular toilet, electrics , shower, and with a temporary classroom! I am ready to start teaching.
But first we will have a small party for the students on Sunday morning and then, on Monday, classes begin (The weekends here are Friday & Saturday).
There are girls from a nearby village who also want to come, but the expense of a taxi 5x/week is prohibitive (about $ 100/month). So I'm asking again: please support these young women so they can find pride in learning, gain self confidence as they see a future outside of the camps becoming a possibility
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I'm Margaret, retired educator, and I will go to Kurdistan this September, to start a pilot program teaching English -for starters- to the young Yazidi women who had been abducted by ISIS, after the genocide in 2014. They were sold, and kept as sex/slaves by their owners. I met them at the viewing of the docu/film Daughters of the Sun, 2023, by the Dutch/Kurdish filmmaker Reber Dosky. Afterwards I asked the young women what their biggest challenge is now, 9 years after the genocide, while still living in tent camps and still thousands of Yazidi women, children, mothers and brothers, etc missing.
Their answer? Education.
Faiza f.i. (kidnapped at age 11 by ISIS, and sold and resold as a sex-slave, was finally able to escape after 5 years) wants to study International Criminal Law. But she, like most all survivors, is missing basic high-school education, which is not available to her, nor the other young adults, in the camps. And there are so very many.
I know somebody!! needs to help them. And I can, time wise, experience wise, and I can go "now", not in 10 or 20 year, when we've lost yet another generation or more.
With the Dutch/Kurdish Filmmaker Reber Dosky and Angela from the global charity Soroptimists we have gone for an orientation week: to make contacts, get permission from the Barzani Charity Fund (they are responsible for all the camps in Kurdistan, all the orphans, all the handicapped, and much more), talk to the camp-leader, and receive her cooperation in organizing a place to sleep etc. That week was successful, and, I was so naive in thinking I go just go over with my toothbrush and start up...
The donations (thank YOU!!) so far have paid for the orientation week and the rest of the funds till June 1st was left with two young women from the film: Faiza and Sarab (now my salaried "project managers") to manage lots around the Yazidi@School project while I am in Holland preparing to return in September (finding tables and chairs etc for the classroom; my container conversion: into sleeping /study quarters for me , and for one visiting teacher at-a-time as well and to organize more around the project). Next year I'm planning to also start computer training, which will need a big injection of funds for the laptops.
Please support this project with your donation. All of the expenses must be paid by me. That was the agreement with the Barzani Charity Foundation. With Yazidi@School nobody gets paid: no salaries are needed, no rental cars, no expensive hotels, no offices, in short: no overhead. I will go and stay on as a volunteer and live in the camp itself with the gentle Yazidi people. Every penny donated will go into the project and only the project.
Currently I am also gathering funds for musical instruments: mouth harmonicas and recorders. Easy to play, and they will make life in the tent camps a bit happier.
Carla van Os, partner of the docu/filmmaker Reber Dosky, has now (as of August 17) managed to create the charity foundation Yazidi@School and is chairing this. Angela is the treasurer.
You will see a donation button on this GoFundMe page which makes it easy for you to donate to this mission and also to share it in your network.
Thank you so so much for your support, I could not do this alone, none of it, and believe that we are all in this world together: with each other, for each other, carrying each other.
Denise Siegel did an interview with me about the project: https://youtu.be/HAYpAsUyXAE?si=tgiALZUqBNuCbi4V
Organizer
Margaret Rijkelijkhuizen
Organizer
Vijfhuizen