A young Iraqi mosaic artist - Mosaic Middle East

Riveen

A young Iraqi mosaic artist

Out of the trauma of Iraq, Riveen emerges into a beautiful new era of creativity and hope.

A Special Message from Riveen

November 2021

Our wounds are deep and our losses are priceless. Our dreams and the bounties of our country were stolen from us.

Every day the sky lays over all things, attracting all the refugees to look at it and plead with the Lord to extend his hands to them and take them to the refuge, to live in safety in the homeland he gave them.

As a 25-year-old Iraqi woman refugee, I lost my family and my youth in a foreign country.

Throughout I experienced trauma and heartache, but I have never let this stop me from moving forward, and I've never let it destroy my hope. Because God always sends good humans to our life like the Mosaic Middle East organisation that supports us financially, morally and psychologically.

Riveen-and-Saemon-Highlight — Riveen and her husband Saemon highlighted here with friends and members of the 'Hope Group'

I am very grateful to them. Thank you very much.

I hope that next year will be a year full of success and I hope also to travel soon and have stability to fulfil my dreams. I also hope for there to be safety and peace in all the world.

And if you're reading this,

I've got a message for you!

You're gonna be OK!

Whatever it is that is hurting you, will pass. It probably won't happen overnight. But things will get better. You just got to have patience and always have hope.

Every situation in life is temporary, so when life is good, make sure you enjoy it, and when life is not so good, remember that it won't last forever and better days are on the way.

Riveen

Riveen's Story...

Riveen was playing with friends in 2005 in Qaraqosh, when an explosion went off. She was struck with shrapnel in her calf, back and neck. The scars and physical pain from the event remain today. The source of the attack was never identified.

For thousands of Iraqis just like Riveen, bomb blasts, kidnapping and persecution was part of everyday life. Then ISIS came and changed the trajectory of her life forever.

Riveen was just 18 years old when ISIS invaded in 2014. She fled with her family overnight to a small village near Dohuk in Kurdistan. Here they found temporary accommodation in a school that had been converted to support internally displaced persons (IDPs). The conditions were difficult with around 100 families sharing this cramped makeshift space.

During the chaos, Riveen was separated from her beloved, Saemon, who was now in Jordan with his family. Hopes of their engagement began to fade as Riveen was denied a visa to Jordan 5 times. Finally, it was decided that Riveen would travel to Lebanon where she and Saemon were married in 2015. Life in Lebanon as refugees was difficult. But Riveen and Saemon clung to the hope of a new life together in Jordan.

See what happened to Riveen in part two

Riveen2021 — Riveen at the Olive Tree Centre, Madaba, Jordan alongside the handmade mosaic.

Out of the trauma of Iraq, Riveen emerges into a beautiful new era of creativity and hope.

Riveen and Saemon were finally approved for visas to Jordan and ended up in a small city called Madaba. It is famous for its mosaics. The Madaba Map is part of a 6th century floor mosaic in the early Byzantine church of Saint George. It is the oldest surviving original cartographic depiction of the Holy Land.

Riveen was trained in making mosaics as part of a project run by a Christian charity in Madaba. She has come through many traumatic experiences into a wonderful new era of creativity and hope. Riveen’s beautiful mosaic of an Olive Tree adorns the wall of the reception area of our first Olive Tree Centre in Madaba. She now volunteers at the Centre.

Life is hard for these refugees in Jordan. They are not allowed to work for pay. The Olive Tree Centre has given Riveen and hundreds of other Iraqi refugees hope and new opportunities through educational classes, trauma counselling and therapeutic activities. Riveen is actively involved in the life of the centre and encourages and inspires many refugees through her positive demeanour and hardworking nature.

Throughout her young life, Riveen has experienced so much trauma and heartache but she has never let this stop her from moving forwards. She is a true survivor, and wise beyond her years.

— Riveen

Riveen has designed the beautiful Tree of Hope mosaic that will eventually adorn the walls of the new Olive Tree Centre in Amman.

“I feel so blessed to work on this project with Mosaic Middle East to open a new Olive Tree Centre in the poor area of Al-Hashmi Al-Shamali in Amman, Jordan, said Riveen. “It has given me confidence and makes me feel like the people in the UK support us and listen to us.”

“I want to say thank you for not forgetting the Iraqi people. We love you. Because of your help, our lives have been blessed through the Olive Tree Centre. We want other refugees to experience that same hope, help and healing through their own Olive Tree Centre in Amman. We have all lived in that darkness and we know what a difference having hope can make.”

View all Olive Tree Centre stories