Majida, 16 years old, lives in a refugee camp in Iraq/Kurdistan, Majida wears a thin, dark cloth over her head because of the recent death of close family members. Yazidi women traditionally wear this cloth for several months as a sign of mourning. (please look also here and here and here)

»For me, the life in the camp is not so good.
Since we don't have a phone, we haven't been able to talk to other people who fled Sibasheikxedir. When we fled from Daesh back then, I was still a small child and that's why I can't remember other people from Sibasheikxedir. And since I haven't spoken to anyone from Sibasheikxedir, I don't know how the situation is today and what is happening there. My father's uncles are living abroad, but I haven't talked to them yet either.
But I still remember exactly how Daesh attacked our village. It's like a fixed image that has remained before my eyes. We were in the Sinjar Mountains for more than a week. And because there was nothing to eat and drink, it was the most difficult time in my life until today.
This school year was difficult for me because the school did not open regularly * and therefore I could not attend classes.
Currently, I am attending Grade 3 in the middle school. I realise that I need good grades if I want to become a doctor in the future, but missing school this year did not improve my grades.
Actually, I've always been a smart and good student so far, but since I'm still working alongside school, I'm not quite as good as I used to be. I work in the fields beside school, 20 minutes walk from the camp. My father used to be a farmer and had his own fields. The fields where I'm working now don't belong to my father, but were given to us by a landowner for growing vegetables, and he gets a share of the vegetable sales. For example, if we pick ten boxes of tomatoes, the landowner gets half of the profit from the sale.
I regularly work in the fields with one of my sisters because there are no other job opportunities for us here. The work in the fields always depends on the season. In spring, we plant the vegetables in the fields. During the summer we go there to water the vegetables until they are ripe. And now in harvest time we go to the fields every day and harvest the vegetables. At the moment it is tomato harvest and I pick tomatoes and sort them into boxes to sell at the market.
It was difficult for me when recently a cousin of my mother died of a heart attack and an elder sister of mine. My sister, who was 29 years old, did not survive the birth of a child. I managed to cope with this difficulty by going to the field and working there. Working in the field was a help for me to deal with the grief.
My wish is still to become a doctor in future.«

* Due to the corona epidemic, the school lessons were also restricted in Iraq.

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