ISIS unable to take away this family's happiness

Hassan is a 17-year-old shepherd who lives with his family in Samah neighborhood of Mosul. He says he loves his job and his sheep. This is a happy life.

 

Hassan's neighborhood was liberated by Iraqi troops only two weeks ago and when you stop by their mud house and pen where they keep their sheep, it feels like they live in another country.

 

They seem mindless of the intense fighting going on between Iraqi soldiers and ISIS militants only minutes down the road.

 

His uncle Abu Abdullah is also happy with his life. He has been raising and grazing sheep and goat since he was a boy like Hassan. He is now 62.

 

He says in this kind of life no one ever bothers him, but in the last two years he had to abide by ISIS rules which included giving away three of his sheep to the group each year as the Islamic tax of zakat.

Video and photography by Hejar Jawhar