Goze, 85, arrives with her family to the Newroz refugee camp in Syria in 2014. Like thousands of other Yezidis, she and her family fled IS as it advanced on their village and sought protection on the steep slopes of neighboring Mount Sinjar, where they were stranded for over a week. —Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin, US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Darwesh, 65, helps his mother Goze from the van that carried him and his family the last kilometer into Newroz Refugee Camp in Syria in 2014. "I would rather die than leave my mother there to die alone," he says after arriving in the camp, his clothes still covered in the dirt of the last two weeks. He and his family walked for five days to arrive at Newroz. He carried his mother the entire way. —Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin, US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Overwhelmed at arriving to Syria's Newroz refugee camp alive in 2014, Goze taps her heart and begins to cry. —Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin, US Holocaust Memorial Museum
A relative who also was stuck on Mount Sinjar in summer 2014 but arrived to Newroz refugee camp in Syria earlier embraces Goze as she walks the final stretch into camp. —Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin, US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Loved ones help Goze walk to the tent in Newroz refugee camp in Syria where she and her family stayed after escaping from Mount Sinjar in 2014. —Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin, US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Zena, Darwesh's second wife tears up as she carries her daughter into the relative safety of Newroz refugee camp in Syria after escaping Mount Sinjar in summer 2014. —Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin, US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Darwesh greets his sister-in-law as he arrives at the tent where the rest of his family is staying in Newroz refugee camp in Syria in 2014. Traveling slow with his mother, Darwesh sent part of his family ahead. "I did not want them to wait for me. If I am to die for my mother then I can accept that," he reflected on his decision. —Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin, US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Young Iraqi children hunt through a pile of clothes donated by residents of al-Malikiyah, Syria, after the influx of Iraqi refugees in 2014. Few refugees arrived with anything more than the clothes on their backs. —Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin, US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Marina, a daughter-in-law, immediately sits Goze down after arriving at Newroz refugee camp in Syria in 2014 and washes her feet. —Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin, US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Moments after arriving at the tent, Zena (center), Darwesh's second wife, breaks down in tears after finally sitting to rest at Newroz refugee camp in Syria in 2014. "I would not leave my husband," Zena she says after arriving, "but I did not think we would live to be here." —Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin, US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Still in the clothes she traveled in for the last two weeks, Goze lies down and rests at Newroz refugee camp in Syria in 2014. "There were many people who left their mothers and fathers," Darwesh recounts of the what he saw leaving Mount Sinjar. "I passed four stranded. They were lying on the rocks dying - slowly - but surely dying." —Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin, US Holocaust Memorial Museum
A Kurdish fighter working at Newroz refugee camp in Syria carries food to Darwesh's tent in summer 2014. —Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin, US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Darwesh washes his face clean after arriving at Newroz refugee camp in Syria in summer 2014. —Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin, US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Zena hugs her daughter after arriving at Newroz refugee camp in Syria after escaping Mount Sinjar in summer 2014. —Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin, US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Darwesh sits with his daughter as Hanifa, his first wife, spoons her the first proper meal they have had in over two weeks. They escaped from Mount Sinjar and had just arrived at Newroz refugee camp in Syria. —Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin, US Holocaust Memorial Museum
"I thought we would die on that mountain," says Darwesh as he smokes a cigarette outside the canvas tent after escaping from Syria in summer 2014, "then we heard they [Kurdish fighters] had cleared a corridor leading into Rojava [Syria] so we thought it was better to try. We thought that would be a better death. Now we have life after death." —Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin, US Holocaust Memorial Museum
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Under attack by the self-proclaimed Islamic State, tens of thousands of Yezidis fled their homes throughout the Sinjar area; many sought protection on the steep upper slopes of neighboring Mount Sinjar on August 3, 2014.
In the photos above, Goze, an 85-year-old Yezidi refugee, and her son Darwesh make it to a refugee camp in Kurdish-controlled Rojava, Syria, where they reunite with their family after being trapped on Mount Sinjar for eight days.
“I thought we would die on that mountain," said Darwesh, "then we heard [Kurdish fighters] had cleared a corridor leading into Rojava, so we thought it was better to try. We thought that would be a better death. Now we have life after death.”
