Sponsor Yazidi Refugees

Please help our efforts to bring Yazidi Refugees to Winnipeg, Canada. The Yazidis are a Kurdish-speaking people from northern Iraq whose religion is thousands of years old. It has roots in Zoroastrianism, Gnostic Christianity, Judaism and Islam. The Yazidis are monotheists, believing in one God who created the world and entrusted it into the care of seven Holy Beings, often known as Angels. Preeminent among these is Melek Taus, the Peacock Angel. Many Muslim fundamentalists identify Melek Taus, the Peacock Angel as Satan and Yazidis as devil worshippers. This characterization has incited centuries of persecutions against the Yazidis. Most recently, ISIL, The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have targeted the Yazidis in its efforts to “purify” Iraq and neighbouring countries of non-Islamic influences. Historically, the Yazidis have lived primarily in Iraq, Syria and Turkey and also had significant numbers in Armenia and Georgia. They have been the victims of 74 recorded persecutions over the course of their history. Their population has dwindled from over 28 million to just over 1 million today. In the last year, in both Iraq and Syria, Yazidi men are slaughtered, Yazidi women raped and their children abducted. Yazidi girls are sold as sex slaves and the boys are indoctrinated and converted to Islam. Many have escaped Iraq and hundreds of thousands of Yazidis now live in Refugee camps in Syria and Turkey. The world is witnessing the modern day genocide of an ancient and historical people.