Gule Ali ShAqqli, 60

W e had heard that the town of Solakh was safe, so with my family—husband, sons, daughters-inlaw and grandchildren—I headed there from the mountains. Unfortunately, on the way, we ran into ISIS fighters, many of them in black and carrying machetes and guns. They blindfolded my son, who was 22 at the time, and my husband, who told me not to be scared. Then ISIS took them away.

ISIS herded the women—my five daughters, grandchildren and me—into a trailer. They drove us to Mosul, where they let us out and told us we had to convert to Islam. If we refused, they would kill us, so I agreed to convert. But when we were ordered to perform Muslim prayers, I pretended. Instead, I prayed to Melek Taus, the Peacock Angel of the Yazidi people, and to God to protect us. I also prayed to Khatuna Fakhra, a revered religious figure who represents female energy and is the protector of women and children. ISIS wanted to kill me, but the children cried out when they put a gun to my head, and I was spared.

Life in captivity was hard. We ate rotten potatoes, mouldy bread and scraps of chicken. At night, ISIS soldiers would take away young girls. They took the boys away, too, to train them to become ISIS fighters. My eldest daughter, Nadia, and I hid the children under clothes and bedding and put tape over the babies’ mouths so that ISIS couldn’t hear them crying. I wiped charcoal on the faces of Nadia and the other women so they would look insane and the men wouldn’t want them.

I believe our guards began to think that, because we were women, or because we were tending to so many kids, we wouldn’t run. One evening, about three months after our kidnapping, they went to pray and forgot to leave a guard to watch over us. We knew it was our moment. There were 51 of us who ran. Eventually, we came to a river. I stood with two of the tallest women in water up to our armpits and helped pull the others across.

Today, my grandchildren are safe in Toronto. They are learning English in school, and they have started to smile again and play games—mostly hideand-seek and lots of soccer. As for me, I wait for news of my son and husband, and I hope.