DUHOK, Kurdistan Region – Pasha Shingali, or the “Father of Shingal” as he is affectionately known to the Yezidi community, raises money for medical services that few of the Yezidis living in Duhok’s camps can afford. He also helps reunite families missing loved ones held in ISIS captivity.
“The Iraqi government doesn’t do anything to help our sick,” 28-year-old Shingali told Rudaw English from a tent in the Sharia Yezidi camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) near Duhok.
In this camp, home to more than 3,300 families, Shingali has dedicated a tent to Yezidis with health problems, hanging their photographs on the walls along with the story of each – an awareness project he started less than two weeks ago.
“This is for our history,” he said. “I want to show the world proof of the illnesses and problems our people have suffered from and to honor those who donated money to help them.”
Around 100 photos are taped together and hung on the interior of the tent. They show people of all ages in need medical treatment, along with Shingali’s mobile number so he can be contacted. Other photos show people who have already been assisted by his aid.
“This is the only tent with photos, but I have maybe 1,000 more photos of people who need help,” he said.
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Inside of the tent set up by Shingali, 'Father of Shingal' a welcome escape from the summer heat in Duhok's camps. Photo by author
There is also a list of people who have donated, the amount they have given, and where the funds were allocated. “I don’t take any of the money for myself,” Shingali said. “All of the funds go to people in need.”
The tent — with its water cooler — also offers sanctuary from the summer heat for those who are ill. Summer temperatures in the Duhok area can reach close to 50 degrees Celsius (more than 120 degrees Fahrenheit) and many tents have no cooling systems with a limited amount of electricity.
ISIS overran the ancestral Shingal homeland of the Yezidis, a religious minority in the Middle East, on August 3, 2014. ISIS killed hundreds of men and elderly and took the women and children captive after they were forced to convert into ISIS’s so-called Islam.
Appalled by what had happened, Shingali began raising money on January 1, 2017 to help fund healthcare and to “buy back” women and children still in ISIS captivity.
One family recently spent $16,000 for the return of their 24-year-old daughter.
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Kazem Kalaf Sareer, 69, from Shingal needs medical care for pain and loss of vision in his left eye. Photo by author
To date, 251 people have benefited from Shingali’s campaigning – a project which has even won the support of Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani.
“I want to show the world how the people here are living within the camps,” Shingali explained. “If more people or organizations are aware of our situation, maybe we’ll receive more donations.”
He has no plans to leave for Europe like so many other of Iraq and Syria’s minority communities have done.
“I never want to leave my country,” he said. “I can go, but I want to live here and help people. Sometimes I receive 100 phone calls in one day asking for help.”
Shingali’s campaigning is not limited to Yezidis. Although he helps the displaced in Yezidi camps from Zakho to Duhok to Sulaimani, he also offers assistance to Muslims and Christians who are sick and cannot afford medical treatment.
A photograph of n ISIS survivor who was in a car accident and has no family. He can't afford medical care. Photo by author
“There is no difference in religion to me,” he said.
Shingali sold his wife’s gold for the $200 so he could travel to Mosul after securing the release of an 11-year-old girl whose family lived in a different camp.
An estimated 2,500-5,000 Yezidis were killed by ISIS when the group took control of Shingal in 2014, one of many attempts throughout history to uproot the religious minority from Nineveh. A documented 6,417 Yezidis were captured.
To this day, some 3,000 Yezidis are unaccounted for, with 1,102 Yezidis, mostly women and young girls still thought to be in ISIS captivity, according to recent statistics released by the Kurdistan Regional Government.
Related: Yezidis express feelings through art, music, performances in Duhok
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