12-year-old Emad the guest of honour at Yazidi community celebration

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This article was published 24/08/2017 (2977 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As promised, Emad Tamo got a celebration in his honour.

The local Yazidi community got together at the Corydon lCommunity Centre Thursday evening to host a celebration in honour of the 12-year-old boy who reunited with his family one week ago after years spent as a prisoner of the Islamic State.

Around 100 people came out to the community centre, many with food and gifts in tow. When Emad arrived well-wishers and media greeted the boy, as young Yazidi children followed around their well-known peer.

“It’s something we do for every family that arrives,” said Hadji Hesso, spokesman for the Yazidi Association of Manitoba.

“We want to tell them ‘We are here for you and will support you.’ We want to welcome them into our community and nothing brings people together like food.”

People filled up their plates with chicken, rice, vegetables and pasta after the meal was served, while other gathered talking or going up to introduce themselves to the guest of honour.

Emad addressed the media through an interpreter, again thanking those who had a hand in bringing him to Canada, while holding a cell phone and occasionally smiling or speaking to his uncle in his native language.

He also thanked the Iraqi soldiers who liberated him, before saying he hopes to become a spokesman for the Yazidi children who still remain in IS captivity.

One man instrumental in bringing Emad to Canada was on hand to meet the boy and address the media – Steve Maman, founder of Liberation of Christian and Yazidi Children of Iraq.

“Everything is here for him: the schools, universities, social services. It’s all here to help him and nobody is going to stop him from becoming what he wants to become,” Maman said, in a conversation with Tory MLA Andrew Micklefield, who had earlier presented Emad with a Manitoba pin.

“And this is what Canada is. Canada is a land of freedom, of opportunities, and he’s going to be safe. He’s going to know what it is to be safe because of our country.”

Emad captured the hearts of Canadians last month when a photo of the boy circulated on social media following his liberation from the IS by Iraqi soldiers.

In the photo, a frail-looking Emad is sitting in the passenger seat of a vehicle, a water bottle clasped in his hands, his hair disheveled and blood and cuts visible on his face. He’d suffered a gunshot to the arm and shrapnel wounds to the right side of his stomach.

Before that photo went viral, Emad’s mother, who was living in Winnipeg as a government-sponsored refugee with four of her children, did not know if her son was even alive.

Outside the celebration, a man stood smoking and said Emad’s story gives hope to the Yazidi community in Winnipeg, many of whom still have family and friends who are prisoners of the IS. There’s a sense if he made it out of alive, then maybe their loved ones will too, he said.

Today Emad looks happy and healthy. As he starts his new life in Canada, he is again surrounded by those who loves him: his mother, his uncle and four siblings.

Hesso said he expects it will be quite a while before Emad is willing to speak about his experience as a prisoner of the IS. For now, his family just wants to get the boy settled into his new life.

Since his arrival he’s been seen by a doctor and the family is seeking mental health services to address the trauma he received while captive.

The horrific experiences Emad has went through is something the local Yazidis are acutely sensitive to, which is one of the reasons they wanted to come together to celebrate his arrival as a community – which, as of last week, got one new member.

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca