ISIS arrived at night. They surrounded our village so we couldn't escape.

They first took all the men. After some time a boy came back, covered in dust and crying.

He said the men had all been killed.

ISIS fighters then seperated us young girls and bused us to Talafar where they starved us for a few days.

They moved us from place to place for weeks before taking us to Raqqa in Syria.

In Raqqa we were imprisoned in some underground room. We couldn't tell day from night.

They put name badges around our necks and put us on display for sale.

Eight of us were sent to Aleppo. I ended up in a large villa along with another girl and my nephew.

There was an American man there who did not speak Arabic.

He told me I must marry him and become Muslim.

He asked me to wash myself and then come to him.

I told him I was pregnant and couldn't have sex, so he took me to a doctor and when he found out I was lying he beat me.

He tied my hands with a cable and raped me.

I tried to escape many times. Each time he would catch me, aided either by the militia at the checkpoints, or by people on the street.

There were people in Aleppo, however, who weren't terrorists.

I knew that I just needed to get lucky and find one.

I kept looking, until I finally found the right person.

I escaped, but still I don't know anything about my uncles, my cousins and my brothers.

-Shadi

 


Identifying details of the girls' accounts have been omitted, their names changed, and identifying physical features and designs (such as tattoos) have been deleted in order to ensure their safety.