“ISIS had arrived to Sinjar’s surroundings, we were able to see the flashes of bullets at night and hear the clashes, we knew they were going to enter our city, so we left right away on 3/8/2014. We trusted Allah and left, we were very scared since we had to pass through their checkpoints on the road but they didn’t get in our way, we were neither fighters nor gunmen. We were seventy – Old men, women, young people, children and babies, and were all related. We took some available cars and left in an unbearable hot weather, it was August.” After leaving his home town of Sinjar in August 2014, Muhammed found himself living in an unfinished building in Sitak, a small city close to Sulaimaniyah. With time on his side and helped by a small NGO, he started home schooling the 22 children living in the building.
