Lana and her sister-in-law fled Karemlash at 6:00 p.m., just as it was starting to get dark. They walked until they found a village, and began knocking on doors. “We knocked many doors just to spend the night. All of them were scared to host us. Hosting Christians could cause problems with ISIS for them.”
Finally, they found a family willing to let them sleep in the garage. When they woke up, they found that six other displaced Christians had also joined them. Their hosts were gracious and kind. A large truck arrived and all of the Christians piled inside as their hosts’ nephew tried to drive them to Erbil.
But just outside of Mar Mattai Monastery, they ran into an ISIS checkpoint. The militants were besieging the monastery, where a number of Christians from Mosul were hiding. They were not going to let these fugitives easily pass, and arrested one of the men, saying that the Christians had to pay if they wanted him to be released.
Lana and the others pooled all of the money they had fled with, roughly $850, and offered it to ISIS. The militants said it wasn’t enough, and that they would kill anyone who was holding back money. Lana searched her pockets again, and found $20 she was saving to purchase medicine.
“You are not Muslim, you are thieves!” she told them. “Islam is merciful with poor people; they are merciful with sick people. That (money) you have taken we can purchase water. You are infidels, not Islam. I have Muslim friends and they are unlike you!”
They took her money, but let them continue to Erbil with the warning that they will all die that day. For 17 hours, they tried different roads before finally arriving at a Kurdish checkpoint. There, she was able to make a phone call to her priest. “He came with three cars to pick us [up]. When I saw my people, I can’t describe the feelings, I can’t describe how I hugged them,” Lana remembered.
Finally, they had made it to Erbil. When Lana arrived, she immediately began weeping. “What they (ISIS) have done to Karemlash!” As she was weeping, a man “came to me and said there is Kurdish people here who don’t understand our (Christian) language. But they were sad because of your weeping and your voice was powerful.”
“I wept for the churches, and monasteries. Everything,” Lana added.
After she was done weeping, Lana felt ill and was taken to the hospital. Many would come to her during displacement and attempt to convince her to immigrate. But all she wanted was to live in Karemlash again. “It’s so dear because it is my homeland. Now it is destroyed, but it used to be famous for green lands and farms, [for its] trees. My healing is [there] with God.”
Today, the city is liberated and Lana is at last back home in Karemlash. Every day, she sits by her main door and weeps for all that Karemlash has experienced. But every day, she is also filled with happiness. “Even when I saw my home stolen and other homes burnt, I just wanted the garage to be fine so I can sit in the evenings there and die here. Now, I can’t believe my home can again be good!”
She expressed, “The house has become clean and beautiful. My neighbors help me a lot, whenever someone cooks they bring a plate to me and the other bakes me bread… Now I am in heaven. I thank God for giving me strength. I am comfortable to be here again.”
For interviews with Claire Evans, Regional Manager, please contact Olivia Miller, Communications Coordinator: [email protected]