Sara fled with her family to escape Iraq’s long-standing conflict when she was just four years old. While they found a new place to live, they did not find safety. Sara’s Dad was killed two years later. The loss of her father, when Sara was so young, was almost unbearable.
‘When my father died my joy left me,’ she says.
No place like home
For Sara, life before the conflict was peaceful and happy. It was a simple but pleasurable time of family and community in northern Iraq. They celebrated festivals and feasts together. Her mother fondly remembers preparing her hair and makeup in the salon before a wedding.
A great loss of life
In 2017, Sara’s family felt safe enough to return home. But so much has been lost.
‘We left with him and came back without him,’ Sara’s Mum, Asma, says. ‘It is very hard without my husband and the children’s father. There is nothing beautiful in my life now.’
While Asma believes she will never recover herself, she is determined that Sara should have a future...
A giver of hope
Tearfund has been giving Sara, now aged 10, support to help deal with her loss. She discovered that writing – about the good times as well as her grief – eased her sadness. When she grows up she wants to be a doctor. ‘That’s what my daddy wanted,’ she says.
Your gift today will help us rewrite the future of people like Sara, demonstrating the love of Jesus in a practical way.
