For the 14-year-old Emad Mishko Tamo, the bicycle stands for freedom, which was only a few years ago removed from him and his family when they were kidnapped by Iraqi militants and imprisoned for three years.
Now, he is behind a motion to deliver new bicycles to all Yazidi refugee youngsters in Winnipeg.
“I saw so many kids they suffered when they were captured by ISIS. There were so many kids they were crying. They were dead. We saw a lot of things,” Emad said. “Since that I promised to myself any kids I will see I will help.”
Emad was separated from his mother after the Islamic State group displaced thousands of members of the Kurdish-minority Yazidis in 2014.
His mother had been living in Winnipeg, Canada, as a refugee, but had no idea if her son was still alive until a relative saw him in a photo on social media.
He was freed in 2017 in the Iraqi city of Mosul.
