Adil Ravoka, a civil activist in Nineveh governorate, is among those taking part in the effort to provide humanitarian support to the many families displaced by the capture of Mosul.
“Many NGOs distribute aid to displaced families, but it isn’t enough because they need things like cooking stoves and cold water, as they left everything behind and ran for their lives,” Ravoka said.
In Tal Asqaf, a Christian-majority city north of Mosul, Abu Bahnam walks the streets asking people where he can find a bakery to buy bread for his family of six. He too is a refugee.
“The departure of my neighbours and my son’s fears were the main reasons that pushed me into leaving my house in western Mosul,” he said. “I never imagined I’d leave my house, my friends and my work, but my young son was very much afraid and asked me to leave as most of our neighbours had done.”
The first warning signs came when Abu Bahnam gave refuge to a family from a part of the city where the insurgents were already advancing. After that, he started watching the street as one neighbour after another took off, carrying only the basic essentials with them.
When ISIS drew close to his part of the city, Abu Bahnam knew it was time to go.
“It was the most difficult of decisions to abandon my grocer’s shop and make my daughters leave their jobs, but I took it because I feared the unknown,” he said.
Since reaching Tal Asqaf, the family has rented an old house after staying with friends for a while. As Christians, they are in familiar surroundings, but Abu Bahnam thinks only of getting back to his own home at some point.
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