Watch Nadia Murad for free! Click "Details" for access code info. Thursday, February 11 at 8:00 PM

On August 15, 2014, when Nadia was just 21 years old, this life ended. Islamic State (IS) militants massacred the people of her village, executing men who refused to convert to Islam and women too old to become sex slaves. Six of Nadia’s brothers were killed, and her mother soon after, their bodies swept into mass graves. Nadia was taken to Mosul and forced, along with thousands of other Yazidi girls, into the IS slave trade.

As a farm girl in rural Iraq, Nadia could not have imagined she would one day address the United Nations or be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She had never been to Baghdad, or even seen an airplane. As a slave, she was told by her captors that Yazidis would be erased from the face of the earth, and there were times when she believed them.

Today, Nadia's story – as a witness to IS brutality, a survivor of rape, a refugee, a Yazidi – has forced the world to pay attention to the ongoing genocide in Iraq. It is a call to action, a testament to the human will to survive, and a love letter to a lost country, a fragile community, and a family torn apart by war. 

The Annual Student Forum features Fairfield students in dialogue with leading authorities in a candid and animated cross-generational conversation. Special thanks to Jim Fitzpatrick, assistant vice president of student affairs, the Fairfield University Alumni Association, the Murphy Center for Ignatian Spirituality, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Celebration of 50 Years of Women at Fairfield University.