Help Heal Women Abused by ISIS

Hi there folks, I'm Tim Murphy, a NYC-based freelance journalist who's written for the New York Times, New York magazine, the Nation and many other places. Recently, investigating a story, I visited a remarkable woman outside San Diego named Dilkhwaz Ahmed, a 15-year refugee from Iraqi Kurdistan. As she explains herself in this video, she runs a nonprofit called License to Freedom in El Cajon, CA, which has the USA's largest population of Iraqi refugees. The group helps refugees adjust to every aspect of life in the U.S. but specializes in the treatment of trauma, especially women who are victims of domestic violence. Recently, Dilkhwaz has begun making regular trips to a large refugee camp in Dohuk, in Iraqi Kurdistan, to do healing workshops with Yazidi (a religious minority) women who were raped and tortured after ISIS took over a part of Kurdistan. These survivors, as young as 8 and as old as 55, are so traumatized. Dilkhwaz has an art-based healing program that helps them bond, gives them permission to tell their stories aloud and to express anger, and helps them understand they have nothing to be blamed for or ashamed of. She also works with male religious leaders in the camp to impart the same message. The demand for such work there is high and Dilkhwaz would like to be able to go back enough to train new trainers and also to be able to properly report outcomes. Dilkhwaz is very respected by political and media leaders in the San Diego area and her work there has been widely reported. She would like to raise $100,000 to succeed in this project...to cover travel to and from the camp for her and an associate and to offer salaries to trainers there. I am in awe of Dilkhwaz's compassion, strength and resourcefulness, even as she raises her own children here in the USA. Your donations would go directly to licensetofreedom.org, a 501c3 and would be earmarked specifically for this project. I would be happy to keep you up to date on its progress. If, like me, you have been horrified by the abuses of ISIS but feel you are helpless to do anything about it, please make a donation to this important work and share this with your networks. I truly believe Dilkhwaz and her associates are proof in these dark times that there are still angels among us.