The harrowing moments that first inspired the Lotus Flower
If you’ve just stumbled across our website for the first time – welcome! Even if you’ve been here a few times before, perhaps you’re not entirely familiar with our story, or how the Lotus Flower first came to be. So we thought we’d use this opportunity to share our backstory in a little more detail.
You may have seen us mention our founder Taban Shoresh many times on social media, or perhaps you’ve come across her story elsewhere. But frankly, her remarkable journey is the reason we exist today, and as the Telegraph newspaper once commented, it has all the echoes of a blockbuster movie…
“Taban’s story reads like an action thriller. Secret police, escape from certain death, poison, travelling via underground networks, crossing international borders on horseback at the dead of night. It’s all here. There’s a book in here somewhere, a film too, even.”
Taban is a former child genocide survivor, who grew up under Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq. She was imprisoned with her family aged just four, and they narrowly escaped being buried alive. After 12 months dodging mines, bombs and incessant gunfire, they finally arrived in Iran and were flown to the UK by Amnesty International to start a new life.
Pic source: BBC News
After a relatively normal childhood, Taban later worked in the City of London, but in April 2014, everything changed. As she saw ISIS waging another genocide in her homeland, she returned to Kurdistan as an aid worker – and within two days was up in a helicopter delivering provisions to displaced Yezidis trapped on Mount Sinjar.
These clips of BBC footage from her mission are just as chilling today as they were all those years ago:
Fifteen months later, Taban returned to the UK, knowing in her heart that she had to do more to help women and girl IDPs and refugees. So in March 2016, she launched the Lotus Flower, starting with a few Post-It notes and a pen on the floor of her living room. The charity began with a few simple, small projects which have since blossomed into a fully-fledged programme with around different 40 activities, involving nearly 30 staff. Today, we have three centres for women and girls within Rwanga, Essyan and Domiz 2 camps, as well as our new facility in Duhok city.
It’s been a traumatic and at times near-impossible journey for Taban, but without her determination and courage, we would never have been able to reach the 40,000 women, girls and community members who we’ve supported so far.
As we edge towards the end of another busy year, we’re all looking forward to the next chapter!