OUR STORIES
These are the stories of the women who make up the Bereket Project who are refugees, but more importantly, who are resilient, strong and talented:
Izdihaar's Story
Intesar's Story
Intesar is a Syrian refugee from a Muslim background. She lives in Turkey with some of her family, but when the war is over she wants to return to her home in Syria. Her daughter still lives there which is a constant worry for Intesar. She is a founder member of the Bereket Project.
Unfortunately Intersar's health has deteriorated and she is no longer able to come along to the meetings, although she is still crocheting at home. We miss her.
Izdihaar and her family are from Christian background and until recently, lived in Northern Iraq. Because of the threatened repercussions of their refusal to surrender or change their Christian identity, they left their home city, Mosul some years ago and settled in the Christian majority town, Qaraqosh, still in Northern Iraq. However, with the upsurgence of Daesh or ISIL in that same area Qaraqosh became a town on the frontline between ISIL and Kurdish forces.
In August 2014, as the battle raged between the two sides, Izdihaar’s family didn’t know when it would be a safe to leave the town without getting caught in the crossfire. Finally, they decided that they had to leave. They grabbed a few clothes for their children and fled the town with their relatives. They left at around 8pm. That same night, at midnight, the town was taken by Daesh. They had lost all that they hadn’t taken with them.
It was a difficult night. The route was congested as many other desperate people were fleeing for their lives. They fled to Irbil, which takes an hour in normal circumstances. That night it took 5 hours. It was such a difficult journey. After just a few days in Irbil the family took a bus to Turkey. Then they spent a few months living in Ankara before moving on to another city in Turkey.
After some months in there, Izdihaar went to The Bereket Project and started to learn how to crochet. When she was a child she had always wanted to make things like this. The first items she ever crocheted were a beautiful baby hat and scarf. Izdihaar says that, once the hat and scarf were completed, she kept looking at her handiwork, unable quite to believe that she herself had made such a thing!
Izdihaar, her husband and their four children have been accepted as refugees by the UN. Under their Refugee Resettlement Scheme they have recently moved to Australia. We wish her and her family all the best in their new life in Melbourne.