I guess you could argue that this is all old news. A lot has happened since late November, and there are plenty of other stories to cover. By and large, the international media have moved on. But the refugees are still there, huddled together on the grounds of the church, or in other sites scattered around Kurdish-controlled territory (which has offered them a warm welcome despite its own lack of resources). The world may have forgotten these people, but they\u2019re still struggling to come to terms with the catastrophe. The accounts repeat and overlap: \u201cI hid our money in the house, thinking we\u2019d be back in a few days. But now we realize that we\u2019ll probably never be able to go back.\u201d\u009d \u201cThey knew our cellphone number, so a few days later, they called us up and said they\u2019d hunt us down and kill us.\u201d\u009d \u201cThey took him away, and we\u2019ve never heard from him again.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
Mukhlis Yusef Yacoub, 37, could be considered one of the lucky ones. Thanks to a benefactor from his hometown of Qaraqosh (a predominantly Christian city just east of Mosul), he\u2019s found a job in Erbil, selling clothes from the back of a car, which gives him just enough money to afford a closet-sized apartment for him, his wife, and their three kids. But this is small consolation for the loss of their world.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey came on August 6,\u201d\u009d Yacoub told me, remembering how the jihadists began their assault on Qaraqosh. Islamic State fighters detained him and his 9-year-old son, Mark; his wife and two daughters managed to flee. His captors demanded that Yacoub convert to Islam. When he refused, they beat him so viciously that he lost his sight in one eye. Yet he would not bend \u201d\u201d so his jailers decided to go after his son. \u201cThey tied a rope around Mark\u2019s body and legs, and then they dragged him down the street behind a car.\u201d\u009d But still, he said, he refused to submit. After 7 days, his jailers tired of the game, and they expelled Yacoub and his son from IS-controlled territory. The two of them walked on foot for miles until they reached the safety of Kurdish territory.<\/p>\n