My name is Kim Sleeper, teacher educator at Lincoln High School. We're here with Salema Mirza. We are in Lincoln, Nebraska. Today's date is Thursday, September 4th, 2024. Please state your name and please can you spell it.

My name is Salema Merza and I spelled as S-A-L-E-M-A, my first name, M-E-R-Z-A, my last name.

Salema, where were you born and where did you grow up?

I was born in a beautiful city in Northern Iraq. It's called Sinjar, specifically in a village it's called Khana Sor. Sinjar is surrounded by mountains and valleys. It is very famous for its delicious figs. And it was a place then, honey. Growing up was among my family. We are pretty much a big family and among my Yazidi community.

Very good. What languages did you speak in your home?

In my home, inside home I would say we were speaking Kurmanji. And Kurmanji is a branch of Kurdish language, but it has its own unique grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. It's a very beautiful expressive language actually. I would say the language that our ancestors used in my community, the Yazidi community in Sinjar in general, in my family was speaking. It is rich with, you know, we use it a lot as a, I would say, a integral part of our identity of the Yazidi identity, the Kurmanji language. It's rich with, I would say, story telling, poetry, and, you know, songs and all that, are part of the language. Besides Kurmanji, because we were not allowed to speak Kurmanji at school. So there was also Arabic. So at school, they taught us in Arabic. And then after Saddam regime, we have schools that was in Kurdish, but other dialects, not Kurmanji. So all three of them were mixed together.

So you were talking about your family. Can you tell me more about your family and your extended family? What was your community like, your culture like back home?

I came from a big family. Like my own family, I have three brothers and six sisters. And I'm the seventh one with my mom. My dad passed away back in 2011. It's a close knit one, my family with a strong ties to the Yazidi tradition. My extended family, it's a long line of Yazidis who lived in Sinjar actually with many cousins, aunts, uncles from both sides, my dad's side and my mom's side as well. We all lived together in Sinjar. We were often gathered together during, for example, when somebody was getting engaged or getting married, you'll see everybody will just come and try to enjoy that time during the religious activities, I would say, that during Eid time. Also, I mean, when I would say good and bad time, actually, we were kind of supporting each other during these times. And you said what the community was like. In Sinjar, not only Yazidis lived there, but also there were Muslims, Christians, and other minority groups that lived together. They were living peacefully actually together. Yazidis had their own language, which is Kurmanji that I referred to earlier. They were practicing some of their traditional events, that taking place there. They had their own customs. Yazidi in Sinjar were very skilled farmers, I would say. They were very good at farming, at handicrafting. My mom was a weaver skill that she made a lot of clothes and beautiful fabric that she passed that to my older sister. She was kind of, part of the, I would say, the daily life, I think, to support the family with it. My parents were farmers. We grew our vegetables, foods, other crops like, let's say, wheat. We also raised livestock, like goat and sheep that use their, you know, they provide us us with milk and meat and wool, all that helped us to go through the daily life. On the religious side, Yazidis believe in one God and seven angels. The Archangel is Tawûsî Melek. We celebrate a lot of Eid, each part, or each time of the year there is a specific Eid that we celebrated. For example, when it's harvest time, we have Eid Cheli Haviney, we have Eid Cheli Zivstaney, also the Yazidi New Year that is on the second week of April. We have many of them after three days of feasting on September we celebrate also it. So that's pretty much in general about the Yazidi community.

So how did you come to Lincoln? What did you hear about the place before? And you were talking about how your family lived before with farming and with creating clothing. So what are some of those things that you are able to carry on and what things are more difficult to do in Lincoln?

Well, before I came to Lincoln, I was in Duhok because after we fled to Kurdistan, I was living there. The first time I heard about Lincoln was through my sister who came to the United States in 2010. We didn't ask her a lot about where she was living or how the life was looked like. To me, America was only what I saw in movies. It was Meryl Streep, Brad Pitt, to be honest, high buildings. That's how I knew America. But as Nebraska specifically, I did not hear about it. But when I was about to come to the United States, I did have someone that I just knew that like the day before I came to United said that he was from Omaha and as soon as I said that I'm leaving to to go and I'm going to Nebraska it was like I will give you one piece of advice take as many clothes as you can because it is snowing a lot and I am very now that I love the snow a lot I love it I like it's my favorite I know how many people hate it and he was like no no not after you moving there because that is not gonna be anymore your favorite thing because it's hard to drive and I think now I understand what he means by that. It is hard to drive. But yeah, I hear that through my sister. When I moved to United States, I came right to Chicago and then we just stayed there for a couple days and then I moved to here because I have a, my family first of all, we're living here actually. Part of our resettlement that the agency we were coming through, we have to have someone to host us when we move. She also told us that there is a big population of the Yazidi community here in Lincoln and I think those two things were what makes me to move to Lincoln, but I'm glad I moved to Lincoln actually. What makes me to move to Lincoln, but I'm glad I moved to Lincoln actually. It's a very welcoming community, the nature that they have. I feel like the diversity it has, it really close a lot to where I came from. I think Sinjar was also at least diverse, so I think that helped.

Do you think that you're able to carry on some of the, well, either religious or cultural or just daily life traditions that you had back in Sinjar?

So in Sinjar, the culture and tradition, we were practicing, it was easier to do it than here, basically because our shrines or, you know, the holy places like Lalish and other shrines in Sinjar and in Jehan, it was easy to do there, it was easy to gather with the rest of the Yazidi community, but moving to United States, there was a lot of challenges with that, it didn't prevent us from practicing those traditions and culture that we have back there. For example, here we will make some traditional food just like we did back there in home. We will try as much as we can using the custms that we use back there in the country. Women and girls we try to get in touch and tell each other about our experience, the daily experiences, our stories, what we are going through every day, gathering together, I think, celebrating our Eids and other, you know, practices, religious practices. And I think all that helps us to, even if it's not 100% just like in Iraq, but it's heal, it's like unbroken thread, I would say, between what we had there and here in the United States, all that helped. So what things do you think, it sounds like a lot of connection with the community has been very important.

What are some other things that you think have been helpful in Lincoln in helping you specifically to resettle here?

When I came to Lincoln, just like I referred to earlier, my sister was here, so she was a great help to have her here to be honest. I have a couple of local, I would say local community who came, we never met, but they came to me and they offered that help. And that was something that was really nice, I mean to get that help from someone that even you don't know. Because back there for example I didn't know how to drive a car and they came to me, her name was Catherine, I just want to say thank you to her, she just came and and she was like, "Selima, you can depend on me, rely on me on getting your driver license. I will teach you how to do that." Having the resettle agency here that helps the refugee come to the United States also on the other hand [unclear] was really helpful 'cause they will find you housing, they will tell you about your doctors appointment at the beginning when you come, what you need to do it, they will find resources for you, find you jobs. All that was very helpful, but mostly the welcoming nature of the community was the part that I feel like it's supposed to stay there. So all that helped me to just fit in here.

I do really love hearing that about Lincoln. I think that that is something that's really special, especially about this part of town, to where it is. Can you explain an item that you brought with you? What's its significance? What meaning does it hold for you?

Yeah, just to show that to you. Unfortunately, I could not bring nothing from my hometown that is Sinjar in that area. But before I came to the United States, my mom and I went to Lalish, and we got this piece of cloth that we have back there and it's baptized with Lalish water and oh my gosh I don't want to cry here. These, I feel like these parts help me whenever I miss my home, my, I will say my mom, my home, community and Lalish piece of cloth, I hold on to it. And it's really kind of helped me to connect to the past. And maybe it's something so good to me, people, but to me it's the only unbroken thread between my past and present. And I'm glad that at least I have this piece of cloth with me. I was able to bring it. It's beautiful, yeah.

Can you describe a little bit more about Lalish? and baptism for those who don't know?

So Lalish is the holiest place for the Yazidis and it is in Shikhan. I wanna mention that because people are confused between Sinjar and Shikhan. Sinjar is in the northern of Iraq, all the way by the Syrian border, but Shikhan is kind of close to Mosul and that area. So Lalish is in Shikhan. Yazidis have to visit Lalish at least once in their lifetime. When you get there, there is some holy water in Lalish. We call it the spring water. And when you go there with some specific sounds of the music and songs that the religious songs that you got baptized there with that water by a religious man or a woman depends on who is there by the way if there are a couple married they are not allowed to get into there together because in our faith that if they get into the thing they can't like they're like sisters and brothers so only you need to go and then if your husband who has to go after you after you come back there. So that is how the baptize. Okay, beautiful that it it helps you connect with that and signifies that It reminds me of my mother's love and those. You know that the sacred rituals. It does help me a lot.

So you talked on how the Lincoln community has been very welcoming. Some people who are Yazidi, some people are not. But what do you think makes the Yazidi community in Lincoln so special? How have people worked to resettle? How have people worked to build organizations and build it so that the community feels resettled here, even if it's not in your name?

I think what Yazidi community went through and we believe that we went through 74 genocides and they're still sticking to your beliefs and fighting for life by all means to stay steady and put, establish some foothold there and rebuild your life. that resilience that they have, I think that is the spirit of our community. Going through 74 genocide and it's still ongoing, it wasn't something easy to get. So despite the trauma that we went through after we came to the United States, we started looking forward, looking for a new life, really new lives, continuing our education, holding on what we have in hand. So to prevent the future generations to go through what we went through. And on the other hand side, while you are focusing on how to maintain two cultures in the same time, while you went through all that to trauma and you are still healing, you focus on your kids, trying to give them a better life. It is a challenge by itself. Like, at the same time, they will maintain their culture and then the American culture will be in United States. By the way, it's not easy at all. And raising kids on the other hand side, how to make them understand that they came from a background, that they went through all these genocides because they want to stick to their faith, because they want to stick to their culture, because they know they came from a beautiful background, they don't want to lose it. So I think that is the most special thing about this community, the strong bond that they have, and how they will just still support each other when something happens. I went through a situation with a family where my brother went through a car accident. We didn't know what would happen. Every single person that we know from the Yazidi community, they just came. They will visit us. They will not let us alone. A couple of them just came with me and we just drive that car all the way and we went to Chicago. So all these things make the community special. You feel like, "Oh, doesn't matter what I'm going through, I still have my community." I feel like there is a hope to heal. There is a hope that I can rebuild my life. I can find a better life for myself, for my kids, and for the Yazidi community. It's beautiful.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much. I think that that's the end of our questions unless there's any final comments that you really want people to know and understand.

I think what people need to know more about the Yazidi community is that ISIS's attack for Yazidi was not a first or last for Yazidi. Yazidis has been beset by an ongoing, centuries-long campaign of wars, genocides, and operations. Whenever they strive to establish foothold and try to rebuild their lives, they face a renewal, I would say, and a discrimination. That constant thing makes Yazidi without carrying the protection and support for her. What is the hardest part about it? Hopefully one day that someone will just come and stop what is happening because it is really something going to be hard for the Yazidi to survive. What happened in 2014 was kind of their goal was to eradicate Yazidis from existence. I'm saying if this continues on this way, I think that it's gonna unfortunately happen, which I am not hoping, because Yazidi minority all over the world is like one million. That's all. And that's for culture, the heritage and everything. The culture, if it faded in global, with every single step that you make, I think that even if you mention Yazidi in the United States, they have no idea. It's hard to keep the minority group this way, if this keeps going.

I do know that things like this can help stop that. And a lot of of people in the US just don't know. Even if you mention Yazidi, or maybe they remember the news from 2014, but I hope that these little bits of education. will help people to understand that if they hear

Well, I hope so, and I don't blame them if they don't hear about the Yazidis, because really if there was kind of a discrimination against my community, I would say on all sides that 2014 was at any time, we would never say it was something good. The only good thing about it that people was able to [unclear] It's very sad to say that an event will be [unclear] where people are starting to take over. I know Yazidi, I know their culture of Yazidi because I had them. So I was hoping that it would be a different way that they know Yazidi, but unfortunately, that attack now we have to. So we'll just keep finger crossed that one day or will we just end it all or not only for the Yazidis? Yeah, right. Thank you so much for really, I appreciate this. I hope that everything goes well.

Let me get this thing out of the way. Thank you.

Thank you so much for having me.