Duhok orphanage shelters Yezidi children orphaned by ISIS

Juveen is an orphanage in the town of Sharia, Dohuk province. Its name means “gathering“ in the Badini dialect of Kurdish. 

It was set up to accommodate Yezidi children whose parents were killed when Islamic State (ISIS) swept through Yezidi communities in Shingal in August 2014. An estimated 2,000-5,000 Yezidis are believed to have been killed by ISIS. 

Funded by local Yezidi donor Basheer Koriye, children aged five to 13 years old are provided with housing, food and psychological support.

The orphanage provides welcome refuge to the children, who had been living in ISIS captivity or in squalid camps for IDPs (internally displaced persons).

"There is no life in the camp. It is full of dust and our tent is small and the place is not nice. In fact, we could not believe that the doors of goodness could be open for us. So we came here to be helped," says 10-year-old Nedima Ismael Jouda, a Yezidi girl from Shingal whose father was killed by ISIS.

Juveen is at full capacity, with 30 child residents. Children who have lost both parents take priority.

Of Iraq’s 500,000-strong Yezidi community, 400,000 were forced to flee their homes by ISIS violence. 

"In Juveen house, we want to make these children feel just like any other. To know the same love and compassion that a child with parents knows. Today, the doors of Juveen house are open to any child who has lost parents and to the children who were in the hands of Daesh (Islamic State group). We aim to be like parents to them,” says orphanage supervisor Kawa Eido Khatari.