SUPPORT AMAR's Mental health and music appeal
AMAR Provides music training and mental health services to Yazidis, who have been living in IDP camps in Northern Iraq since 2014.
Mental health and Music appeal
AMAR knows how powerful Music can be as a support to people suffering mental health issues. We started a Yazidi women’s choir to help the victims of ISIS recover and it has had a remarkable effect on those who have experienced and contributed to the choir.
It turns out that singing in a choir really does improve mental well being and in some instances the girls involved said they felt’ recovered’, while we also found that suicides and deep mental trauma were significantly lower among Yazidi women who had experience our music programs.
AMAR is now expanding music and choir provision from Khanke IDP camp to include Essyan camp, and create more choirs and music lessons among the young Yazidi people there.
Help us to achieve this and bring the healing of Music to more vulnerable and forgotten people, to raise their morale, bring dignity, fellowship and help preserve their cultural identity and mental health.
AMAR also hopes to run a ‘Music and Mental Health Conference’ in the Autumn. Keep in touch! And help donate what you can, Thankyou
Personal stories
THE YOUNG STUDENT WORKING TOWARDS HER DREAM
Dareen, 12, is a student on the music programme in Essyan camp. She has been coming to classes right from the start of the programme.
Dareen has struck her teachers with her musical talent. She learned all her singing skills from listening to folk songs on her mobile phone, and has had absolutely no formal training.
Even though she was just seven when ISIS invaded Sinjar, Dareen still has vivid memories and never wants to go back there. Her and her family – mum and dad and five siblings – have been living in Essyan camp for many years.
Dareen says she absolutely loves coming to the classes and is learning a lot. As well as singing, she is learning the tambour.
Dareen’s ambition is to one day become a professional singer. We hope the music classes are her first step to achieving her dream.
THE TEACHER OPENING UP MUSICAL WORLDS FOR DISPLACED YAZIDIS
Ali, 35, is one of our music teachers on the Yazidi Music Project.
Originally from Borek, a village in the Sinjar district, Ali is a professional musician from a family of musicians. His father, Hader, was a well-known Yazidi musician, who taught Ali to sing and play tambour from a young age. Yazidi songs have historically not been written down and in his lifetime Hader memorised over 500 songs.
When ISIS attacked in 2014, Ali was forced to flee his home. Ali and his family spent ten days in the Sinjar Mountains, before making their way to Khanke camp, where they have lived for the past five years. Ali’s brother and two nephews remain missing. ISIS destroyed Ali’s home and his village is too unsafe to return to.
Ali says music is vital to him and to all Yazidis. That’s why he’s so happy he’s playing such an important role in the project as a teacher in Khanke camp. He teaches tambour to four groups a day, five days a week, and has 52 students in total. Through the lessons, he is passing on his expert musical skills and knowledge to a new generation of young Yazidi musicians.
“Yazidi music is ancient and very important to our culture. As a minority, it keeps us together.”
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Stand with AMAR ICF and let’s turn compassion into action. Your support can rebuild lives, restore dignity, and renew hope.