Three children were looking for something when their mother called out to them. The most little of them was a girl, who ran after her brothers adjusting a dupatta over her head. The mother waited with her arms wide open for the little girl. As soon as she reached, her mother said, “How many times have I told you Naziya? Don’t go out in the fields like this.” Naziya tried explaining, “But…”. “You know Daesh owns the lands beyond this field. And they take girls like you as Sabiya. Once they capture you, nobody can save you.”, She was cut short by her mother.
Naziya still remembers the day her family fled the old city of Duhok, Iraq to save their lives. She still remembers her elder sister, Nazm, who she had to leave behind to a Daesh. The man took her in as Sabiya in exchange for the arrangement for their family to escape into Turkey.
Today Naziya, a 9 yo lives in a refugee camp heavily guarded by soldiers. The camp is no less than a slum with little to less amenities. Naziya remembers her life back in Dohuk, she and her friend Sahiba would get ready and walk the streets of the town, go to shool and play in the park, without fearing that they may be shot dead or captured to be a Sabiya to the militants. The girls would talk of their dreams of being a teacher and being beautiful brides themselves. They would often get ready as brides or act as a teacher in their plays. But alas, now all that seems like a far fetched dream for Naziya. 2 years seem like two centuries for her. She doesn’t know where Sahiba is now or if she is even alive. She misses them both, as much as her old life.
Naziya stops trying to explain anything to her mother and simply walks after her. Her head hanging low and tears rolling down her face, wetting the thirsty ground that bites on her feet as she walks barefoot in the afternoon sun in the month of June. Her sobs, get lost in the noise of distant gunfires and nearby patrol vehicles. Her screams cannot escape the prison of her flesh and bones just as she cannot escape these barbed wires of refugee camp to catch her dreamy butterfly that still calls on her from outside. She knows, someday she’ll have to cross the fence, and enter into an unknown territory to catch that butterfly and live her dream.
Last modified: August 19, 2021
