Residents of the Siba Şêx Xidir village in Shengal are returning to their land and rebuilding their houses. The villagers say that their lands will become more beautiful and revive if people come back.
Despite the schemes, attacks and genocidal policies against the Yazidi people, the people of Shengal (Sinjar) continue to rebuild their lives. The residents of the Siba Şêx Xidir village, who have returned to their lands, are rebuilding their houses destroyed by ISIS during the onslaught in August 2014. The villagers are rebuilding their lives with the help of some humanitarian aid organizations and their own means.
Displaced by the ISIS attacks on the Yazidi region, more than 40 families have returned to the village of Siba Şêx Xidir while more are on their way back home.
‘One cannot live in foreign lands'
A resident named Dawid Süleyman who returned to the Siba Şêx Xidir village in 2020 is rebuilding his house, which was destroyed by ISIS, with the help of the humanitarian aid organization IOM. Süleyman said that he was very happy to be back home. “The Municipality of the Autonomous Administration provided us with water and electricity when we first returned. We are very happy to be back here. The region is safe. We want other families to return to their homes. If they do, life can be revived in these lands. One cannot live in foreign lands. Shengal belongs to us, and we need to embrace it. Life here can be revived through the return of its people.”
'Return to your homes instead of being migrants'
Another resident named Sami Isa from the same village said that there used to be problems concerning the supply of basic needs in the past, but these issues have been resolved recently. “Our people should come back to their homes instead of being migrants. Drinking water can now be supplied and most of our needs are met. A group of families have recently returned, and others are on their way back,” Isa said.
