“I became a child bride to escape ISIS. Now I risk my life to defuse their bombs”

Siham is part of a demining team clearing the legacy of the conflict in Iraq, undertaking dangerous work with the Mine Advisory Group (MAG) so that her community can recover from the impact of the terrorist group.

Every day, wearing a light brown helmet and body armor, she walks into minefields or booby-trapped houses, looking for bombs and carefully helping to defuse them.

Siham’s blood type is printed on the side of her uniform in case she needs an emergency transfusion; a constant reminder of the dangers of her job.

“We try to eliminate risks for ourselves and build better lives. We try to protect our lives. We live with them and see what they think and believe; what they want to achieve. They do the worst possible things. They kill, they displace,” she said, sitting at the foot of a minefield in Duhok, northern Iraq.

“I decided not to stop my life because of one person or one thing.”

But in addition to cleaning up the community, the work also helped reverse the severe gender imbalance that ISIS had inflicted on Siham and other women.

“[This work] It also provides women with equal opportunities as men,” she said. “[It proves] There is no difference between women and men. We are proud to tell girls that there is nothing that says you can’t go to work. Break down the barriers we have placed throughout our lives.

“Today we are going to fields or dangerous areas and we don’t know what lies ahead. But we will move forward fearlessly. We are protecting our lives and the lives of many more and more people around the world. We will Offering people the opportunity to go out and play or walk without fear. What I saw, I don’t want anyone to see.”