My Journey to Freedom

In this memoir of survival, a former captive of Daesh shares the empowering resilience of the Yazidi. Roza Alomar is a young woman from northern Iraq, where she once lived a peaceful life with her family in the mountainside community of Shingal. When she was only ten years old, Daesh (ISIS) descended upon the Yazidi community with deadly, genocidal intent. Roza’s grandfather was shot dead for helping diverse community members cope with the terrifying invasion; soon after this, her father was taken, and is presumed murdered, along with many of her other relatives. Towns, villages, temples, schools, hospitals, and farms were all plundered and destroyed. A systematic campaign was unleashed upon Yazidi people not only to mass murder and enslave them, but to eradicate all trace of their religion, customs, identity, and way of life. Roza endured these terrible events alongside her mother, her five siblings, her aunts, and many cousins. After multiple attempts to escape, finally she found safety in Calgary, Canada, where she was able to attend high school and tell her story. This is her own harrowing tale of suffering, resilience, courage, and overcoming unspeakable obstacles on the way to freedom.