It’s now one year since Margaret completed the pilot program inside Mam Rashan Camp in Kurdistan. Those three months were filled with valuable lessons and meaningful connections—with kind and resilient Yazidi families, children, teenagers, and dedicated office staff.
The decision to move to online teaching was made for two important reasons: to reach students in all 13 Yazidi IDP camps without delay, and because the Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF) ultimately did not provide the promised classroom. This lack of support hastened our transition to online learning—and in hindsight, it was the right path.
When one door closed, we opened a better one—for Yazidi students who deserve every opportunity to learn, grow, and thrive.
In early March of 2024, we launched our online classes with a team of dedicated teachers from around the world. We learned a lot to be better prepared for growth and attract the right volunteer teachers.
Nine months after launching our online classes, we celebrated an exciting new milestone: the launch of our website! The first version went live just in time for a special presentation about our school to a group of Soroptimists in Roermond—a town near the borders of Germany and Belgium.
Soroptimist International is a global network of professional women committed to educating, empowering, and enabling women and girls. We are deeply grateful to the Roermond group for generously funding the development of our website. A special thank-you goes to Angela, our treasurer, whose active involvement in national and regional Soroptimist networks helped make this possible.
The website’s first draft was created by Meike, one of our dedicated board members. It will now be further developed by Nasr Alyas, a Yazidi IT graduate, who will add the tools and database systems needed to support our expanding online school.
During the presentation, we also shared our next big goal: to provide every Yazidi university student with a new laptop before they begin their third year. Today, around 1,000 Yazidi students are enrolled in university. We will begin with those entering their third year, and with your continued support, we hope to grow the program each summer to include all new incoming students as well.
Take some time and read the genocide experiences from the Yezidi themselves
https://ruptured-atlas.shorthandstories.com/ruptured-atlas/