After da'esh

We had quite a day today. We visited the relatives of some very good friends of ours who live in a village which had been under da'esh for 2.5 years. It was very sobering driving through villages which had been bombed by coalition airstrikes. The house next to the one we were at had been flattened leaving 8 dead and the fighters who were being targeted escaped (they hung out around homes not allowing families to leave then when the bombs come they escape leaving whole families killed). The home we were at showed us bullet holes in their gate, a roof with a hole in due to rockets and a lady got shot in the foot. There's so much trauma still- this village is placed at the bottom of a mountain on which the peshmerga were based, constantly fighting with da'esh down below, leaving the villagers in constant fear. 

We had a lovely time going with them to their land out the back of their house and helping pick veggies for lunch and enjoying a delicious watermelon from a watery swamp. Such delightful, resilient and generous people to spend the day with.