I’m a Yazidi woman who escaped ISIS

“I do this work to send Isis a message; that they took our girls and I couldn’t hold a gun to protect them, but I can hold a detector and clean the area where they left the remnants of the war,” says Fahima.

Fahima was 18, studying at sixth form, when Isis arrived. Her family woke her up, early in the morning, telling her they had to run.

“In my family, there were three cousins, two married brothers and lots of siblings. I was thinking; how can we all fit in one car? People were saying, you go and I will stay. We knew that those who stay would likely die,” she said.

“My older sister was crying, saying she wouldn’t go without my father. He said, ‘I promise I will come, but I want you girls and women to go before us. If one of you is in Daesh’s hands, it’s worse than them killing me.’”

Twelve hours later, with Isis closing in, her brother escaped in the back of a truck. Her father was in the last car to get out of the village.

Fahima couldn’t return to her home until 2018. When she did, she found her house booby-trapped extensively, including an IED wired up to a box of chocolates. A large, bloody knife she believes was used for beheadings had been left in her bedroom.