What a touching story of how those around the world are fulfilling the call to aid refugees. “As we consider the pressing calls of those who need our help, let’s ask ourselves, ‘What if their story were my story?’” Sister Linda K. Burton shared during women's conference. “May we then seek inspiration, act on impressions we receive, and reach out in unity to help those in need as we are able and inspired to do so.”
In August 2014, terrorists overran the town of Mosul in northern Iraq; those who were not killed left everything they had behind and fled.
A mother was cooking at the stove when she heard warnings from the streets. She left the baking food, grabbed her children, and ran.
She was lucky. Another woman recalled learning that her husband did not make it out of the city alive.
“We needed to escape,” explained a third refugee.
Many of the displaced residents of Mosul made their way to Erbil, located in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. With nothing but the clothes on their backs, they rested in city gardens.
Zarifa Bibo Smo and her brothers—who each owned large, adjacent houses in the city—saw the immediate need.