Few people have heard about the desperate plight of the Kurds living in Northern Iraq, or of their miraculous survival of a silent holocaust that took the lives of 200,000 innocent civilians. After meeting a beautiful and courageous Kurdish woman, Joanna al-Askari, and hearing her searing true story of triumph over evil, I knew that I wanted to bring her story to the world, and in the process, give the plight of the Kurdish people a face, and a voice.

When Joanna was a teenager, she fell in love with a handsome freedom fighter, and later fled Baghdad to join him in the rugged mountains of Kurdistan. From the first moment of her marriage, Joanna was in danger. After being hit by chemicals, she temporarily lost her sight. Determined to survive she fled only to be bombed and buried in rubble, surviving yet again to face further danger. After climbing the highest mountain in Kurdistan, she lost her unborn child before she and her husband sought exile in Iran. There she faced a difficult pregnancy and gave birth under horrific conditions. But the brave Joanna prevailed.

I hope readers will join with me to declare that “never again,” will we stand silent while hundreds of thousands of innocent people are murdered, for no reason other than being a Kurd.