As the Wagga Yazidi community marked the sixth anniversary of the 'Black Day' genocide, their friends and family overseas continue a long wait for freedom in Australia.
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On August 3 2014, Yazidi people were attacked by Islamic State in Iraq, with 1293 people killed in the first two days, 6417 kidnapped and 360,000 people displaced.
Each year, the Wagga community comes together to share their own stories of the time and light a candle for friends and family lost that day.
Among them was Falah Kheder, who survived the massacre by hiding on a mountain surrounded by IS terrorists with 16 family members.
He remembers being unable to find food or water for the ten children in his care for fear of being caught and killed like many others were at that time.
Mr Kheder saw friends killed and children left fatherless, and said the day was about asking for support for members of his community still suffering in Iraq.
"All I want from the world is to see one day that there is no distinction between people, that the world lives in safety, with love and peace, and that hatred and killing end in this world," he said.
"We aspire and hope from Australia and from the great countries of the world to provide more and more support to the Yazidi people and rid them of the environment in which they live."
Seventeen-year-old Eevet Hasan said much of the Wagga Yazidi community had friends and family who were still suffering.
Ms Hasan said many of her relatives remained in camps in Iraq and surrounding countries with little support, and she had not spoken to her grandmother for six years after she was kidnapped on the Black Day.
"They all are just suffering in all kind of areas, mentally, spiritually and emotionally," she said.
She said the community was grateful to Australia and Wagga for the chance they had been given to live safely and establish themselves.
As the pandemic sees overseas migration come to halt, Yazidi refugees who have waited years for visa approval to resettle in Wagga are now in limbo.
Many are now waiting in Iraq and Turkey for Australia to allow them into their new home after coronavirus-related border closures are eased.
Ms Hasan said the Black Day was the 74th genocide attack the Yazidi community had faced over 700 years, and it was important to spread the message that it should never be repeated.
"This is not only about supporting each other and lighting up the candles but to demand the right thing for the Yazidi community," she said.
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