After the re-taking of their hometowns, some of the families who had fled from Northern Iraq recently returned home. However, wrecked houses and demolished roads create major challenges for the returnees. The conflict, which began in 2014, destroyed much of the region’s infrastructure and in villages like Bashiqa, the rehabilitation of water and electricity networks will take a while. Families are often left with nothing when they return home.
Other families remain in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs), which are scattered across Northern Iraq, offering a basic sense of security. Most families do not dare to return home, particularly Yazidis, who fled to Iraq in 2014 through the Sinjar Mountains. So far, around 94,500 internally displaced people have returned home while over 300,000 are estimated to remain displaced. We met with a few women who returned home and some who remained in camps. They spoke about their daily lives, sorrows and worries.
