"My life was destroyed. I couldn’t imagine that I would stand on my feet again.”
This is Siham. She was a 15 year old school girl when ISIS seized her home city of Mosul – a moment that would change her life forever.
During their bloody occupation, she lost her education, her childhood, and eventually, her husband.
She tells @theipaper's @mollyblackall about her experience during ISIS's brutal regime and how she is now reclaiming the land they left behind
This is Siham. She was a 15 year old school girl when ISIS seized her home city of Mosul – a moment that would change her life forever.
During their bloody occupation, she lost her education, her childhood, and eventually, her husband.
She tells @theipaper's @mollyblackall about her experience during ISIS's brutal regime and how she is now reclaiming the land they left behind
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NewsTranscript
00:00 It's been 10 years since ISIS stormed to power in parts of Iraq,
00:05 but many here are still living with the consequences every day.
00:09 This is Siam.
00:11 She was a 15-year-old schoolgirl when ISIS seized her home city of Mosul,
00:16 a moment that would change her life forever.
00:20 During their bloody occupation, she lost her education, her childhood
00:25 and eventually her husband.
00:28 We started with a beautiful childhood.
00:31 We were a simple family.
00:33 We went to school, we played, we lived in safety.
00:37 We raised our families, the houses were warm, we lived a normal life.
00:42 ISIS had the ability to do anything.
00:48 They destroyed our lives in an abnormal way.
00:51 We reached a point where if you go out,
00:54 you don't know if you're going to come back or not.
00:57 Of course, we didn't finish school.
01:00 I had the ambition to become a doctor or an engineer.
01:04 We were banned from schools because they would take the girls they liked.
01:08 I remember one day they came to the school
01:16 and they were arguing about why we weren't wearing hijabs.
01:19 We didn't know what they wanted. I was worried.
01:22 They took one girl because she wasn't wearing socks.
01:25 Nobody knows where they took her.
01:28 There are many girls who haven't returned to their families.
01:31 We have heard a lot about the families here,
01:34 about the killing and the slaughtering.
01:36 After that, we left school.
01:38 Fearing she would be taken as an ISIS bride,
01:43 Siam's parents married her to a man 12 years her senior.
01:47 But it would last just six months.
01:50 One day, ISIS fighters appeared at Siam's door.
01:53 They were rounding up residents to go and pray.
01:56 Her husband, who was about to leave to go to the mosque, opened the door.
02:01 Without asking questions, they shot him.
02:04 He died in Siam's arms.
02:06 The marriage didn't last six months.
02:10 I lost my husband because of them.
02:13 They killed him. He died in my arms.
02:18 My life was destroyed.
02:21 I couldn't imagine that I would stand on my feet again.
02:24 After her husband's death, Siam remained in Mosul
02:28 for the three years ISIS occupied the city,
02:31 largely unable to leave the house
02:33 due to the strict control the terror group maintained.
02:37 For the three years after my husband died, I barely left the house.
02:47 We only went to the shops or relatives' houses.
02:50 I wouldn't wear their clothes.
02:52 They started killing people,
02:54 and they started to hang people and crucify them.
02:57 The worst crimes they committed.
02:59 Today, Siam is reclaiming the land devastated by ISIS.
03:05 As it was ousted from Iraq,
03:07 the terror group booby-trapped houses,
03:10 rigging up fire and killing people.
03:13 The terror group booby-trapped houses,
03:16 rigging up furniture, household items,
03:18 and even games consoles to blow up if moved.
03:22 They littered improvised explosive devices across the country,
03:27 building on layers of landmines already left across Iraq
03:30 by decades of conflict.
03:32 Siam is one of a team of deminers from the Mines Advisory Group
03:37 clearing the legacy of Iraq's conflicts,
03:40 doing dangerous work so her community can recover
03:43 from the terror they experienced.
03:46 After the liberation of Mosul,
03:53 I gradually came back to life without ISIS.
03:55 I felt like a dead person living.
03:57 I lost my youth because of ISIS.
04:01 Thank God I had another chance.
04:08 There's no difference between women and men.
04:11 Today we are going to the fields of dangerous areas
04:14 and we don't know what is in front of us.
04:16 We are going without fear.
04:18 We are protecting our lives and the lives of other people.
04:21 We will give people the opportunity to go out and play
04:24 or to walk without fear.
04:27 I am proud of myself that I am helping to remove the remnants
04:35 that will harm so many people.
04:38 The things I saw I don't want anyone else to see.
04:43 I don't want anyone to see it because of ISIS or its remnants.
04:48 For more UN videos visit: www.un.org/webcast
04:53 (dramatic music)
04:55 you