I had four brothers and seven sisters. I was in school and I enjoyed it. My sisters were there with me, my cousins - all of my family. Life was good.

At 3 am we woke to the sound of gunshots and airplanes overhead. We went to the roof, but we didn’t see anyone. Everyone had already fled. As we left home, we saw bodies on the roads – so many people had been shot. Old men and women had been left behind because there was no room in cars. It was hard to see what was happening. 

We continued to drive to get out of the mountains. ISIS was on the road behind us. They were stopping cars and taking all the women and lining up the men. They took one man and cut his head off in front of us. I was so scared that they were going to take us next. My dad saw that they were busy with other cars, so we took a chance to drive away.

ISIS began shooting at us, but my dad didn’t stop. We could see bodies and heads of people who had been stopped before us. 

Then, our car broke down, so we started walking. My dad knew the way up a mountain. When we got to the top, we hid behind a rock, hearing the sounds of gunshots and shouting and everything that was going on below us. When night came, we continued to walk using lighters to guide us. We walked for 24 hours.

My grandfather was with us and he is old and could not walk fast like us, so we walked slowly. I was so tired. Finally, there was a car that came, they picked all of us up and brought us to Khanke.

I was afraid ISIS would come to Khanke. All of my thoughts were about what had happened and how bad it was. Because of everything I had seen with my eyes, I thought they would come here too. I kept thinking about what happened to the old men and women who were left behind that we had passed as we left home.

Before coming to GROW, I remembered everything that I had seen. It was hard to live a normal life, I didn’t know how to live with those feelings. I wanted my life back so that I could go to school again.

After going through the program, I realized I was not thinking in a positive way. Now, I’m thinking in a positive way. I’m much better than before. I want to finish school and go to college and have a future. I’m believing in God that good things will happen to me. I want to work hard on myself to do something. Now I’m thinking that someday I will go to see my mom and dad and maybe we will have a future. I am healed.

-Hana*

Kurdistan, Iraq

Because of the generosity of people like you, Hana has found emotional healing. BUT there are thousands of children just like Hana with stories that are yet to end with hope. Help Tutapona bring hope and healing by donating today.

*Name has been changed to protect individual and her family.