Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Harrowing: A Young Yazidi Woman Describes Her Kidnapping by the Islamic State

Nine days can indeed, be longer than an entire lifetime. 

Read the whole thing. 

"Nine days can be longer than an entire lifetime, says Nadia, but she can remember every second of those nine days."

"Sometimes they were given nothing to eat, other times just a putrid egg for six young women. For two long days, they received no water. It was extremely hot and their captors had given them a single glass of tea. They passed around the glass -- two tiny sips for each woman. If you convert to Islam, the men said, you'll be given as much fresh water as you want."

"We remained steadfast," says Nadia."

"On another occasion, they were deprived of drinking water once again, only this time their captors put down a bucket of used bathwater. It tasted like soap and reeked of urine, but they had nothing else."

"Their captors beat them, sometimes several times in a single day, for no apparent reason. There was a man with a beard who used an electric cable, while two others preferred wooden switches."

"Sometimes they were also punched and kicked, and they were repeatedly sexually abused."

"Nadia doesn't give a literal account of these rapes. It is virtually impossible for her to talk about them, and it contravenes the conventions of her culture. She merely says: "We were taken individually to another room, to one of the men." Then she lowers her head, in silence, awash with shame."

"What else could we do?" she says after a while, now speaking very quietly."

"She says the men were merciless. Some women threw themselves at their tormentors' feet, kissed their knees and hands, and -- eyes filled with tears -- pleaded for mercy. It was no use. The men remained unmoved. It only entertained them."

Nadia is a portrait of true courage.

This line moved me tremendously:

"I will find this man one day, and I will cut off his finger, and I will take back my ring."