Around the World, Kurds Raise Funds for Fallen Peshmerga
March 1, 2015
From Media
In Europe, the United States, and here in Kurdistan, empathetic Kurds have rallied to raise funds for the family of Hujam Surchi, a Peshmerga who was brutally martyred by ISIS in early February.
In Europe, the United States, and here in Kurdistan, empathetic Kurds have rallied to raise funds for the family of Hujam Surchi, a Peshmerga who was brutally martyred by ISIS in early February.
Surchi, a Peshmerga from Barda Sur in the Mahia Roviay district of the Dohuk province, had been a soldier for over 20 years.
He was wounded and captured by ISIS in August, and his fate was largely unknown until early February when ISIS murdered him in Mosul in a widely distributed video. The 45-year-old leaves behind a wife and eleven children.
After the story of his barbaric execution hit the internet, Kurds around the world have creatively labored to raise funds for the Surchi family, who lost their only income-provider and reportedly live in very poor conditions.
Yerevan Saeed, a Washington DC-based Kurd, turned to the crowd-funding platform Indiegogo to generate awareness and support for the Surchi family.
?When a force of darkness like ISIS threatens all of us, it makes all of us responsible for one another,? Saeed said on the campaign?s webpage. His campaign, targeting mostly the American diaspora of Kurds, has raised nearly $16,000 with a goal of raising $50,000 by mid-March.
Across Twitter and social media there have been advertisements for other philanthropic events with creative spins.
A fundraiser was held at City Centre Mall in Sulaymaniyah, a dinner and tea gathering was hosted in London with the proceeds going to the Surchi family, and a campaign for Kurds in Stockholm has raised over 50,000 SEK (roughly $7,000 USD) in the first week alone.
Since his death, the story of Hujam Surchi has become well known as the face of a free Kurdistan, drawing on the courage in Hujam?s eyes in his last moments. As the Kurdish community around the world responds in generosity, they are truly giving back to the one who gave his last measure of devotion for his homeland.
Kurdish Globe
