Woman freed by SDF: ISIS has blackened our lives as well

Norelhûda Şerkirçî, who has been freed recently from the clutches of the ISIS gangs, said: "ISIS did not only enforce black garments on us, but blackened our whole life. When our city gets liberated, I will delete all the last three years from my life."

21-year-old young girl Norelhûda Şekirçî has been rescued ten days ago together with her family by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from the ISIS gangs in Raqqa's Nazlat Shihade neighbourhood. Currently she lives in her aunt's home in the village of Hawî Alhewa, four kilometres to Raqqa's west. Norelhûda was stricken with shame! For three years now she had not talked with a stranger at all. But after her eyes met the camera, she relaxed and was eager to talk to all her heart's content. She laughed and said: "This morning, when I woke up with the music of the singer Feyroz coming to my ears, I got very much baffled at how they dared to listen to music freely in our house. And then I remembered that we were not in Raqqa anymore."

Norelhûda was a college student in her first semester studying Arabic literature. But after the ISIS gangs invaded the Raqqa city, they turned the university to a military headquarter and banned all sorts of education. Norelhûda recalled those moments with these words: "ISIS did not only cover us with black garment from head to toe, but blackened and ruined our entire life as well. They have locked us up in a massive prison and we survived stricken with fear and horror. Even in our own four walls we could not raise our voices."

Norelhûda suffered a great deal like many others. Looking at her father she said: "I and my father were always arguing for the last three years nonstop, about how to be able to flee from Raqqa. My father was looking daily for a smuggler who would get us out of the city for the money my father could offer. But until the outbreak of the war he could not find anyone. Finally we were saved from the clutches of these thugs".

Norelhûda's whole family was sitting in a round and were talking lively. But Norelhûda felt the need to empty the load that filled her inside to bursting point, and said: "When our city finally gets liberated, I want to delete these last three years completely from my life.”