A woman who quit her job to help refugees is selling her belongings to raise cash for a trip to Iraq.

Deborah Hyde will travel to Erbil in August to work with a charity’s medical team in 40 refugee camps which house displaced Yazidi families.

The former financial journalist left her job in 2017 and travelled to Calais, Paris and Greece to assist refugees fleeing Syria and Iraq.

The 47-year-old will run a stall at Fabulist Costume in Walthamstow’s Wood Street Market on Sunday (July 1) where she will sell designer and vintage clothes and accessories and give a talk about her work.

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Deborah Hyde giving a talk about her work with refugees in camps across Europe. Photo: Isabelle Serro.

“Since I’ve worked in Europe, I want to go to the countries where these people come from to shed some light on what happens to them,” said Ms Hyde of Deptford.

“The Yazidis still have around 3,000 women missing, presumed being used as sex slaves by ISIS in Syria.

“They can’t go back home because when ISIS went into their villages they either completely razed them to the ground or put down mines.

“I know somebody who went back home with a friend and when they stepped through their front door they stepped on a mine and were killed.

“These people are stuck in no man’s land; they can no longer come to Europe and they can’t go home.”

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Deborah Hyde quit her job in 2017 to work full-time helping refugees. Photo: Darren Evans.

The Yazidi people are a Kurdish-speaking minority ethnic group who were expelled from their homes in northern Iraq by ISIS in August 2014.

Up to 200,000 civilians fled the terrorist group and thousands of women and girls were captured and sold into sex slavery.

Ms Hyde will join volunteers at Yazda, a non-profit organisation supporting the survivors of the Yazidi genocide which left thousands of civilians dead in 2014.

Although the London native gave up her city life to live in harsh conditions alongside traumatised people, she insists the work she does is rewarding.

“It was not a difficult decision,” said Ms Hyde. “I was at a crossroads after 15 years in my job and I had the opportunity to leave.

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Ms Hyde, left, will be supported at her stall by long-term friend Connie Kaler, right. 

“I was living a comfortable life in London where people get angry if the bus is late and suddenly I was in a world with really serious problems. The stories still keep me awake at night.

“But even though they’ve lost everything these people are hopeful and positive and that is definitely inspirational.

“I’m learning so much about the world and about human interaction.”

Connie Kaler, who has known Ms Hyde for many years, will help her run the stall at this weekend’s market.

The 45-year-old of Walthamstow jumped at the chance to help out with the fundraising campaign after being moved by the plight of the Yazidi people.

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Ms Kaler said: “Deborah is a very good friend of mine and I think her work is incredible. I want to support her in any way I can.

“She’s doing something that I cannot do myself, I’ve got a daughter and also I would not be strong enough to deal with the amount of trauma that she sees.

“I can’t even listen to some of the stories.

"I invited Deborah to hold the event here was because I know how supportive and welcoming Waltham Forest is to refugees."

Ms Hyde’s stall will run from 11am to 5pm and her talk will be delivered at 2pm in Caro Art Cafe in Wood Street Market. 

To donate to the campaign click here.