Thessaloniki, April 18th, 2018
Noufa, 35-years-old, is one of the Yadizis women who live at the *Volvi Accommodation Scheme. As many Yazidis women, she waits to be reunited with her son in Germany. Noufa wears a bracelet -a good lucky charm, made of red and white threads, which are similar to our “Martis” bracelets. Noufa has been living in Volvi along with her family since last February.
SolidarityNow collaborates with the photojournalist Giorgos Moutafis and documents the culture, the customs and the traditions of this unique ethnic team. Along with them we learn the process of making and baking their traditional bread, known as nan (bread in Kurmanji).
Yazidis are a Kurdish ethnic-religious minority, approximately 700,000 worldwide, with the largest number living in northern Iraq. Yazidis have managed to maintain national cohesion and solidarity despite persistent persecutions, the more than 70 genocides and the long-term oppression suffered by different regimes. Since 2014, they have been systematically persecuted by ISIS and various extremist groups. Still, they have managed to maintain their faith and culture, suffering, of course, the consequences.
In this short video presented by SolidarityNow, Noufa invites us to a travel back in time. Noufa remembers her life in Iraq, when her mother taught her for the first time how to make bread. She remembers Iraq’s soil, which is the best for making their traditional ovens, known as ‘tandour’. And then we return to the present, to Volvi, where the Yazidis men constructed the ovens and the Yazidis women meet there to chat and bake the family’s bread.
Noufa laughs, cries, looks back to time, thinks about the future and her son, whom she is going to meet in Germany. Through her story is unfolding the story of her people, their fears, their distresses, but also their hopes.
Since May 2017, SolidarityNow is supporting Noufa and the whole Yazidis community at Volvi Accommodation Scheme through the Child and Family Support Hubs program**. Through this program, more than 4.400 children, women and other vulnerable groups have found a safe space in various sites all over Greece.
* The organization of Iliaktida is managing the Volvi Accommodation Scheme along with UNHCR’s support, through IATAP.
** The Child and Family Support Hubs program is implemented by SolidarityNow, supported by UNICEF and funded by the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations /ECHO.