Nobel Prize Peace Winner Nadia Murad Works to End Sexual Violence & Human Trafficking as Weapons of War
Nadia Murad, a Nobel Peace Prize for 2018 winner, is working to end sexual violence and human trafficking as weapons of war. She has seen much tragedy from seeing her family and others murdered, to becoming a victim of sex slavery herself. Thanks to a family in Mosul she was able to escape her captors and now fights for the freedoms of others.
Nadia shares her story and the tragedy that her people have faced from terrorists. “I’m from Sinjar, from the village of Kocho in Iraq. Although we were Yazidis, I loved all faiths. All my life, I see my family in the same village, in Kocho. Brothers, sisters, nephews, mother, all in one house. The Yazidis there were living a simple life, but a beautiful life and we were satisfied. On August 3, 2014, I was still in the village when Daesh attacked the Yazidi in Sinjar. As people were escaping to the mountain, 3000 Yazidis, men and children, were killed that day. Those who couldn’t leave, such as disabled people, Daesh killed them in their villages. We didn’t have time to escape to the mountain. When they besieged us, they surrounded the village, so we couldn’t escape. Men in the village were telephoning, they were asking for help so that we could escape from the village, but we didn’t get help from any side. The Amir, of Daesh, came and spoke to the head of our village. ‘You have three days to convert or we will kill all of you.’ Daesh, hundreds entered our village and gathered all of us inside the school. The goal of Daesh in coming, they told us when they came: ‘We want to wipe the Yazidi from the face of the earth.’ They took our possessions, took our mobiles, took our id’s. They took our jewelry, including our earrings.”
She then speaks of the tragedy that took place to her people. “Then they separated and took out the men while we were in the school. My brothers were taken with the men, they were killing them, and we women and girls were seeing them through the window. They took us to Solagh, in Solagh, again they separated us into unmarried girls, boys, unmarried women and elderly women. They separated 80 elderly women from us and they killed them in Solagh and my mother was among the 80 elderly women killed in Solagh. The boys, they took them to their training sites. We were 150 girls, aged 9 to 25 or 26; they took us away in buses that night. They took us to Mosul, to one of their centers where there were hundreds of girls. They didn’t kill us because they wanted to rape us. I tried to escape from the first man, but before I could get through the window he caught me. Anyone could rape us, they were selling us and renting us. We never expected to be able to escape because there was Daesh where we looked. But I escaped with the help of a family in Mosul. That family, honestly, I didn’t expect that there was anyone who could help us. Nobody helped us until that day. Of course, it’s a big thing and I’m honored today.”
Nadia asks for help from us all. “David Cameron in parliament mentioned my name and my community. He said the Yazidi have been persecuted greatly. Yet nothing is done for us, we can’t bear this anymore. I want serious action, not just words and I want international protection to be provided for us. Rescue our girls and women and recognize what is happening to the Yazidi as a genocide. Thousands are missing and 20, 27 mass graves have been discovered they have not been looked at yet. In the camps, our people in their thousands go hungry. Those held by Daesh for a year and several months have endured. Too much, too much, too much has happened to them, every hour. What I have seen in the past, it’s been happening to them since. I don’t have much information about politics but there are things I want from the world and all governments and from all humans who will hear my voice. That we all stand together from all religions and all countries. Whatever happens, we all are human, and we all are the same. That we take a stand for conscience and humanity to cut off these things happening to us today so that this will not happen to other people. So, it will not happen to other children, women and girls. And to eradicate this terrorism from the world.”
Imagine you are living your normal life and then someone comes in to kill your family because you will not convert to their religion. It is a terrible thought, but this has happened, and it is happening in the world! Nadia has brought awareness to the evil that has taken place and has been recognized for the pain that she went through. Since this has taken place much of ISIS has been destroyed because of a new administration in America. President Donald Trump has worked hard to eradicate terrorism from the earth and that is what Nadia cried out for! “’Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” Matthew 25:40
Many people want to know the love of God but have not been told about Him yet. At VFNKB we are sharing the love and truth of God with the world and you can be a part of that by partnering with us. You can sign up to partner with us today here. You can join our tribe, our family and invest in sharing Jesus with the world. You can help us share Nadia’s story with the world so that this will not happen again! We want to hear from you! You can write to us at [email protected]. Greg and John shared in this segment.
See more, related content and articles for this article.
200 Drug Overdose Deaths Every Day: Opioid Crisis in America and Trump’s Administrations Response
In America we are facing an opioid crisis and now tens of thousands are dying every year from opioid overdose. 72,000 people are dying in total from drug overdoses in America every year and more than half of those at 49,000 are opioid overdoses. Some people are prescribed opioids because they need them, but many have abused these drugs. There are addictive natures to these drugs and many have become addicted when they started taking the drugs to help with pain. It is important to be aware of this and be monitored if you do have to take opioids so that you can keep from becoming addicted. There is a total of 200 drug overdoses every day and to put it in another perspective it is one person dying every eight minutes.
The U.S. Senate just voted on a bill that passed 98 to 1 and is now on its way to President Donald Trump. Reported by The Hill, “The Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan bill aimed at fighting the opioid crisis, sending the measure to President Trump’s desk. The 660-page bill includes a range of measures aimed at fighting the opioid addiction crisis. The legislation lifts some limits, which lawmakers called outdated, on Medicaid paying for care at addiction treatment facilities. It cracks down on illicit opioids being imported by mail from other countries and fueling the epidemic. The legislation also lifts limits on nurse practitioners and other providers being able to prescribe the addiction treatment drug buprenorphine. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday said the bill is “set to deliver major relief to the American communities that have been decimated by the scourge of substance abuse and addiction.” He called the bill “a landmark package that will deliver critical resources to establish opioid-specific recovery centers and equip local medical practitioners.”
Imagine that you raise your son up and he goes to college to gain the knowledge he wanted for his career, but you get a phone call that he died from a drug overdose. This happened to a former newscaster for Fox News, Eric Bolling and he shares this tragic story. “I am here to talk about the opioid crisis and how it affected my family. My son was a very, very social high schooler, grew up in New Jersey just outside of New York City. He liked to have fun, he was a normal kid, loved baseball, loved his car. He went to the University of Colorado, he had a fantastic freshman year at University of Colorado.”
Eric says that they had dinner and were driving home when they received a phone call. It was late at night when he answered the phone, “It was a young man and he was panicked.” This young man said for him to call Kayla. “She answered her phone and she was crying, for some reason my mind went to this as a parent, I said Kayla is he alive? And she said no there’s a detective in his apartment. The first week into his sophomore year Eric Chase died of an opioid overdose. At that moment my wife who is in the driver’s seat where we had pulled over to the side of the road. She literally fell into the road and I had to gather her up and we sat on the curb for about an hour, crying, talking, trying to figure out what just happened. We never saw it coming, we never thought we would get that call. Every parent doesn’t want it, we got it.” He tries not to cry as he said that.
“So afterwards your mind tries to figure out what happened, what went wrong. Is it something we did? It is also coupled with, what are people going to think…it sounds shallow but that is really some of the things that go through your mind.”
He continues, “There is one underlying issue that I think parents need to understand and it is very very important…not my kid syndrome. Not my kid syndrome is terrible, not my kid syndrome is a killer because you just don’t know. It could very well be your kid…do your children a favor and have the discussion with them and do it again and again and get involved in your kids lives. Find out who they are talking to and who they are hanging around with. Keep an eye on what they are spending and where they are spending it. It matters, you can save someone.”
Maybe you have gone through this your self or you are worried about someone who is addicted to opioids. We are praying for you! America is committed to do something about this crisis. President Trump remarks on this commitment. “For generations the American dream was built on the idea that our children will live longer and more prosperous lives than ever before. Tragically for many of our fellow citizens the opioid crisis has replaced the American dream with the nightmare of addiction. A terrible terrible situation. Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of accidental death in the United States. Every day about 175 Americans die of drug overdose and the majority of these deaths are caused by opioids. That is what my administration has declared the opioid crisis a national public health emergency. The opioid epidemic is truly the crisis next door…working together we will defeat the opioid epidemic and overcome the crisis next door.” He invites you to visit The Crisis Next Door and share you story if you have been affected by opioids and you can also read other stories.
We now have a leader who says we are going to stop this crisis! Your vote is important to make sure this change takes place. You can find out more here about the candidates that are running in your state. We want to hear from you, have you been affected by the opioid crisis? You can write to us at [email protected]. Greg and John shared in this segment.
See more, related content and articles for this article.