Human rights groups call ISIS’ actions against the Yazidi a genocide, with estimates of 3,100 Yazidis killed on the mountain and thousands more killed elsewhere. More than 6,800 children and women were held captive.

Haider returned to find devastation.

“There was no hope to live again,” he said. “We lost everything. We couldn’t be able to think anything about the future.”

Haider wanted to return to Sinjar Mountain to help the Yazidi who were still there, but his father encouraged him instead to go to the hospital, telling him that he became a nurse to save people. He told him to help his people by going back to medical care to save lives.

Haider took his father’s advice, working 12-hour shifts at the hospital for eight months – without pay. Often, he was the only person there and had to do everything, from diagnosing patients to distributing medicine.

His heart broke as he saw other Yazidis come in with wounds inflicted by ISIS, particularly the girls and women who were suffering from the trauma of captivity and physical and sexual abuse at the hands of their ISIS captors.

“They didn’t want to deal with it, but we came to the point where you have to deal with it,” he said.

Haider also had to come to the point of dealing with the things he saw and faced. He had opportunities to move to the United States, Canada, and Germany – all with the promise to start over to a new life and escape the realities of living in a land ravaged by ISIS.

He had a major decision.

“When you want to start a life again, that’s not easy,” he said. “You have to be encouraged.”

His father’s encouragement to help his people stayed with him. He turned down the opportunities to leave, and decided to stay and work to help his people. He also thought about his personal future and renewed a relationship with his old girlfriend. They married in 2016 and have a 17-month-old child.

“The life is getting much, much better for me,” he said. “I know why I’m living. I have a purpose.”

He still works as a nurse but also advocates for his people. He also works as a translator and guide, advising non-governmental organizations trying to help the Yazidi.

“I have a purpose,” he said. “God wants me to do something in Sinjar for my people. There’s a purpose for some kind of things that have to be done by me.”