In spite of COVID and endless lockdowns, AMAR’s field staff have worked throughout to provide Mental Health and Psychosocial Support to Yazidis

Zahara* is a middle-aged Yazidi housewife. In 2014, she was driven from her home by ISIS/Da’esh, and lost her husband and a daughter.  Left as the head of the household, stranded in a Displaced Person camp in the Kurdistan Region, and not feeling safe to return home to Mount Sinjar, she has struggled alone with the responsibilities and the situation, which are all too much.

Building on the programmes started with Dohuk health authorities back in 2014, AMAR continues to provide Mental Health & Psychological Support services in several of the IDP camps, including for Zahara.  AMAR doctors, after a short series of sessions,  have been able to treat her insomnia, restore her appetite and markedly reduce her levels of anxiety and depression.

Sadly, this support is still needed, 7 years on, as the displacement problems created by Da’esh are unresolved.  the ancestral homelands of Mount Sinjar remain contested by many players, and it is not safe for Zahara and others to return.  Through the kind support of donors, AMAR’s work continues to help hundreds of similar Yazidis every month.

*identity changed