Farming project helps Yazidi refugees return to roots

Adol Ilyas has farmed for as long as she can remember.

It's how her family earned their living in northern Iraq, before ISIS swept through their village.

Now, the 52-year-old is getting the chance to return to those roots.

She's part of afarming initiative launched by a Yazidirefugee resettlement group in Winnipeg, Operation Ezra. Dozens of synagogues, churches and schools are part of the group, which has sponsored a dozen Yazidi refugee families so far. It also works with government-assisted refugees.

The aim of the farming projectis to unite theYazidi community and help refugees who are struggling to meet their own food needs.

Nearly five years ago, ISIS militants launched attacks onthe religious minority in northern Iraq, killing thousands of Yazidis and abducting and abusingmanywomen and girls.The UN called it agenocide.

Ilyasand five of her children escaped, but her other five children, all adults, remain in refugee camps. Speaking through a translator, she said she worries about them constantly.

But getting the chance to farm has broughtback good memories. It has helped her cope.

And she's not alone.

"This is probably one of the most successful projects that we've run," said Michel Aziza, chair of Operation Ezra.

He said the farminginitiative began as a pilot project last year after Operation Ezra realized that government-assisted refugees needed extra food support. Government financial assistance typically endsafter a year.

Many of the Yazidi newcomers were farmers. So an idea sprouted for refugees and volunteers tofarmpotatoes on less than an acre of donated farmland near Portage la Prairie, an hour west of Winnipeg.

The project yieldedabout 315 kilogramsof potatoes last fall.

This year, the initiative ismuch larger.

More than 50 families are farming approximatelyeightacres of landin nearby St. Franois Xavier. They're expecting to harvest about 5,400 kilogramsof potatoes, plusdozens of other crops enough to feed about 250 people for months, and tosell what is left over atlocal farmersmarkets.

Bo Wohlers, president of Shelmerdine Nurseries, donated this year's land.He's a congregant of the Charleswood United Church, which is working with Operation Ezra.

"I thought they deserved a good start in Canada, so we offered the land," he said.

Refugeescan 'come together as a community'

Aziza says in a world where government-assisted refugees face so many challenges, including language, banking and transportation, to name just a few, the farming project is where they can be themselves and work and socialize together as a community.

That sentiment rings true for Majid Haji, one of Operation Ezra's privately sponsored refugees. He farmed for more than a decade back in Iraq.

He felt nostalgic when he got out in the field here, he said through a translator.

He was reminded of his home as soon as he touched the soil, he said although the soil in Iraq was a 'bit tougher.'

An official with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said the government has resettled more than 1,400 ISIS survivors since 2016, with Yazidis making up more than 85 per cent of that group.

Aziza says Operation Ezra plans to sponsor even more families, and to keep growingthe farming program as well.

He thinks the refugees and volunteers could work up to 20 acres next year.

Adol Ilyassays she isn't thinking that far ahead. She's still focused on this year's harvest and looking forward to harvesting the crops and feeding families.

Yazidi refugees farming

5 years ago

Duration 2:13

A group of Yazidi refugees are quite literally getting back to their roots. Picking up their lives here in Canada, where they left off in Northern Iraq.