Sinjar to Lincoln is a combined web and text message story. To experience this portion of the story, please email me.
The Yazidis are an ancient religious group based around Mt. Sinjar in Northern Iraq. Long persecuted, they first began coming to America during Sadam Hussein’s purges in the 1990’s, and a community of Yazidis was established in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Many Yazidis worked for the coalition forces as interpreters during Operation Iraqi Freedom, which led to threats and attempts on their lives. A category of Special Immigrant Visas was created to allow interpreters and their families to come to the U.S., many of whom continued to come to Lincoln, growing the community from 1,200 to 2,500 immigrants by mid 2014
![A mural of Northern Iraq and the Peacock Angel, Tawsi Melek, the most important deity in the Yazidi religion.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e8985ff6097bd834b9141c354a0ff23b8595d5491febe6957364e5f136c3c8f6/Yazidi_001.jpg)
![The Hessos making bread in their garage. They were the first Yazidi family to move to Lincoln.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/49350240f8446c5983a06b174f162864afc88db01aafd535d0a6d499de03d6f8/Yazidi_002.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a29f9706c1e7944c1582ad022b17ed33ded1b03208e63f0caaefc652aa314b1c/Yazidi_004.jpg)
![Hatim Ido worked as an interpreter for the U.S. military.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8663436b94d7e41a16b76502619c6045f0837d6d09e626fe9ed174447a3935df/Yazidi_003.jpg)
![Alias Gares fell in love with tennis while working as a translator, watching matches late into the night.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/44285df2b321b2b2353b829fcc3f3c0230112761ea6a5cba5ebed119a32a8251/Yazidi_005.jpg)
![A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter on Alias’s TV.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/56363cc55cb1d834aa9b565359dfb778477924eb2871c68eb5036fa1c18f52e0/Yazidi_006.jpg)
![Parker, like many translators, took on nicknames and hid their identities while working in the field to avoid reprisals.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/bdff2a1421a4367d9956e21f0f89369aa0b8a84330955ec08c7c15fa52cef9ad/Yazidi_007.jpg)
Parker received a phone call from his twin brother on the evening of August 2nd, telling him that ISIS was attacking Yazidi towns and moving towards their family farm. His brother and many others went to the state capitol to protest, continuing on to Washington DC, resulting in US led airstrikes against ISIS forces and drops of humanitarian supplies.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/de5843bc9525bd5fc751c42c57adb3ca48edea7a3fcfaf81b7d0df08df5143bf/Yazidi_008b.jpg)
![Fadel Hesso Mourad and Faeza Osso took part in those protests.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/733980eb66fbeed9c8cb77995d338667e62b1947b89575bb3372da23848313fb/Yazidi_V2_08.jpg)
![Faeza’s mother, Aishan Bashar, was planning her son Oras’s wedding when the genocide occurred.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f61ec29df69ca43af741674067340f6a2095e06256633d5d6b8384d2abc9087f/Yazidi_009.jpg)
Oras’s wedding, like the rest in the Yazidi community, was called off, and celebrations of all kinds were stopped for 2 years as an act of mourning. Yazidis who had experienced the genocide are moving to Lincoln in large numbers, with those already there helping the newcomers settle and grieve. Manjay and Jameel’s wedding, in November, 2016, was one of the first to be held as the community, which has more than doubled since 2014, begins to normalize.
![Manjay Piso and Jameel Darboo’s wedding.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/12ebb627d3b822d8d431ac566acb2a8ae61c38158a97771987b57759d8444a6d/Yazidi_010.jpg)
![Khudhur Ali fled with his family up Mount Sinjar, where they hid with thousands of other Yazidis with no food or water.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/60844a6230da1a82073117145f4d564b2000c498ba015357eecb040c50467ac7/Yazidi_051.jpg)
![The Yazidi temple in the holy city of Lalish on Mt. Sinjar.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/245ffa9f30204cf681589da3db2c5b10859f5952cf63825233fa7e47f7cf5570/Yazidi_052.jpg)
![A model of the temple being built by Hamo Ibrahim in his basement.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0aa6356fdb40d5f868cdd095b8ce98a387ad6b02e678cc4f283901098b5624d7/Yazidi_055.jpg)
![Naam Simoqy sits in her living room next to a red pouch containing holy relics from Lalish and a photo of her family when they arrived in the Lincoln airport in 2016.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4a12f5e1e4677f32c079a96de90e13df5c817ecce155e3155a08b3f8dc1ebde4/Yazidi_053.jpg)
![Faisal during a break from his job at a salvage yard.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7ac4f726eed379c1e2915a85d0722d91457b22f2ea2ec4f96729170d67648211/Yazidi_054.jpg)
Faisal’s father, who is still in Iraq, is one of the most famous Yazidi singers. Singers pass on the community’s oral history, traditions and religious beliefs. Singers, typically paired with a tunbur player, are the center point of every Yazidi celebration. There are few Yazidi singers in the US, so Faisal is training to follow in his father’s footsteps.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a95adecc8010c7cc12582efbbe82b851461e7aacf335dd51702bbf46748f2f7d/Yazidi_056.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/902d171440fceb0e439b5959f2a234c700617ef9758b6d9b4ecc610490d33507/Yazidi_057.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/11f5bd65fd9bca916ebc65446ea28844fd29a23757d951a6a2861e54385afe53/Yazidi_058.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4eafccf60f96ba84cee9ddeb3afa694337e23aa5e8ba600b48e3afa45bd27a13/Yazidi_059.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2f0eacaa49791ff9f338d834d15e217df757332793ccc5dce5d51ab87f481c59/Yazidi_060.jpg)
![Hamo Ibrahim plays a tanbur that he built.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/944f6a20eee0f3bd62600c4a823f8b072d595a52b2093920a3fd8edd11c6a256/Yazidi_061.jpg)
![Snow covers the harvested field as the ground waits to be prepared for burials.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/788fd57469c7a810cc66a116aa465df46e4a8d2eaab80cd4f633f9eddaf6fe04/Yazidi_063.jpg)
When a Yazidi dies, the body is washed, water or clay from Lalish is put into the mouth, and then the body is immediately buried on Mt Sinjar with the head pointed east and the face turned to the North Star. When ISIS attacked, however, they destroyed shrines and burial sites. That, combined with the continuing insecurity in the region, makes the possibility of returning to the old way of burial unlikely. The cemetery in Lincoln is a final step in shifting their futures from the returning to the mountains of Northern Iraq to the plains of eastern Nebraska.
Sinjar to Lincoln is a colaboration between Benjamin Rasmussen and Mike Shum.
Ben@benjaminrasmussenphoto.com · 720.514.1267