What happened to Myriam, the Iraqi schoolgirl who forgave ISIS?

Myriam talking with SAT-7 presenter Essam Nagy

Source: SAT-7

A message of forgiveness for so-called Islamic State /Daish (IS) given by a schoolgirl in a refugee camp "captured millions of hearts" when it went viral in 2014.

Now a 30-minute SAT-7 film, Sequel of Hope, catches up with Myriam and her family as they celebrate their first Easter back in their Christian hometown of Qaraqosh.

With World Refugee Day on 20 June in mind, Myriam also urged Christians to pray and bring hope to the millions of refugee children who are still displaced from their homes.

"Please, please, don't forget the world's children," said 13-year-old Myriam. "I know what it's like to think you will never see your home or your friends again. As Christians we must remember in our prayers and in our compassion all the children around the world who are suffering because of war and often because they are Christians."

Five years ago, IS overran the Nineveh valley and gave the Christian-majority population the choice of fleeing, paying a punitive tax while under IS-rule, converting or dying. Myriam and her family were among the thousands who fled, firstly to Mosul and then to Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan.

In Erbil, the family lived initially in an unfinished shopping centre and later in a temporary cabin, supported by the Chaldean Catholic Church. Last September the family returned to their home in the Christian town of Qaraqosh.

See the original interview with Myriam's song: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXd9crzBsQI

Watch a five minute clip of the film HERE

See the full half hour film on Youtube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xrwwl5tGYs