Reconnecting With Land after Displacement

SINJAR, IRAQ – A once-bustling village is now a scene of destruction: electrical wires hang from fractured pillars, the wells have run dry, the buzzing alleyways are now eerily silent, and not even a bird takes flight. This is the grim reality faced by the returning residents of the villages of Ger-Zerek (Adnaniyah) and Sikiniya in Sinjar, in northern Iraq.

Both villages were deserted due to the widespread damage inflicted by Daesh, cutting of basic services. The scale of destruction has been preventing its residents from returning for years.  Yet, with the poor and often difficult living conditions in the camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) for nearly a decade, some families cannot resist the call of home, determined to rebuild on the land of their ancestors.

Suleyman, a father of nine, from the village of Ger-Zerek (Adnaniyah), used to travel to other cities for daily work to support his family until 2014 when the conflict broke out. 

“Ger-Zerek was home to all my family and relatives; we lived united,” says Suleyman. “We shared our happiness and grief, helping one another in times of duress. Muslims, Christians, and Yazidis lived together in harmony.” 

When Daesh stormed his village in 2014, he was away in Sulaymaniyah, working. In the dead of night, he received a frantic call from his son—Daesh had taken over, and they were fleeing to Sinjar Mountain.

After enduring nine days with little food or water and under constant threat from Daesh, they reunited and crossed into Iraqi Kurdistan to seek refuge in different camps.

When northern Sinjar was partially liberated, Suleyman moved to Sinune, hoping to get closer to his village.  Soon after its full liberation, he went to Sinjar city. Many parts of Sinjar city became uninhabitable due to destroyed housing and infrastructure and lack of basic services, a far cry from the once thriving and busy center of the Yazidi community in Iraq.

“It was incredibly hard to provide for ten people. I visited my ruined village from time to time until I decided to set up a tent next to my destroyed house and moved there with several family members.”

That’s when he first learned about the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Suleyman qualified for IOM’s owner-driven housing assistance programme. The programme encourages homeowners, whose houses have sustained medium or severe damage or have been completely destroyed, to take the lead in rebuilding. They receive guidance and quality control support from IOM’s engineers, who help develop an adaptable construction plan with key milestones. Upon completion of each milestone, homeowners receive installments of the grant to move on to the next stage of rebuilding.

After obtaining the prerequisite documents to formalize ownership of the land, Suleyman embarked on the reconstruction journey, laying the foundation for a brighter future.

"Before the invasion of Daesh, we were doing well with fertile land for farming and herding our goats. This was sustaining our life," recalls Kori Hasan, a 49-year-old mother of four from Sikiniya village. Like Suleyman, she and her family spent years in displacement, faced with many challenges and lacked stability.

Kori's situation took a turn for the worse when her husband, who had heart disease, passed away, leaving her with the responsibility of supporting the entire family on her own. Despite these hardships, Kori didn’t give up. After nine years of displacement in one of the camps in Duhok, she made the courageous decision to return and rebuild their lives where they feel at home.

For the first several months after their return to Sikniya, Kori and her family lived with her relatives, sharing their resources. They supported her in beginning the construction of her home, helping her to make the first step towards a new start. Luckily, Kori, like Suleyman, qualified for IOM’s owner-driven shelter assistance and agreed to participate in the programme, which allowed her to finish the rehabilitation and move into her own house.

“We now have three rooms and a kitchen. The restoration of electricity and access to a nearby well improved our lives," sighs in relief Kori’s son Hamid.

Hamid, who has spent half his life living in camps, reflects, “Though we lack many things here, this is my home. Even the best camp could not ever compare to the sense of belonging and pride that comes from living in your own home, that you built by your own hands.”

Thanks to the efforts of IOM, generously supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to restore houses, along with support from the Government of the Netherlands and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) to restore essential services, 192 families have returned to the villages of Ger-Zerek (119 families) and Sikiniya (73 families), breathing new life into these communities. 

IOM remains committed to providing necessary support to the returning residents of these villages, from housing and improving or restoring access to essential services like water and electricity to advocating with the relevant authorities to re-open schools and health care facilities and addressing livelihoods needs.

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