IRAQ. Dohuk. 2019. -- Khayri Abdullah Masi, 40, with children Shalal, 15, (daughter) Rawa, 12, and Hachim, 7, and cousin Ashrawe, 18 years old
Father Khairy Abdullah Masi ransomed his children back from ISIS for tens of thousands of dollars, a payment he hopes to get reimbursed for by the government. But he’s raising his children with the help of his sister, as his wife went back to her ISIS husband to raise the children she had with him. His son Shalal, 15, was both a toughened fighter who will say little about what he did, and the rescuer of his family -- he reached out via internet to his father to arrange a smuggler’s passage, dodging missiles that targeted such internet sites, and he eventually was able to lea his younger brother out to their father, and safety, through the front lines.
Photographed in Khanke town, 2.16.19