The horror of war can erase any memory of life before it. The scars run deep, shown in the eyes of the widows, women, and children who are now refugees in bordering countries. The Syrian crisis has displaced thousands of refugees, forcing them into unsafe conditions and a life of poverty and danger. However, despite the atrocities of war, I’ve seen these women and children show great strength and resilience. Familial bonds have grown stronger, bringing mothers, sisters, and children closer together in making them to rely on each other for survival. The past as they knew it is gone. And facing an uncertain future, the world must come together to provide them with support.
Poverty, desperation, grief, and desolation are all words we think of when we think of the Syrian Conflict. We hear stories of the brave men lost during combat defending their land and customs. However, resilience, endurance, bravery, and devotion are words we should be using to describe the Syrian women. The basic needs of food and shelter are scarce--needs many in the western world take for granted. Women who are left behind, who have suffered because of massacres, rape, or imprisonment now have a stark choice to make--to take shelter in an overcrowded camp, a rundown apartment, or to stay in an unsafe battlefield zone which they have considered home for generations..
I began to work on this project in 2012 and 2013 after the start of the crisis. Women and children, who had lost husbands and fathers, were being relocated to different camps in Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. After speaking with these women and children, I wanted the world to know and understand the physical and psychological wounds they have experienced because of this conflict.
What started out as a localized revolution against the regime of Bashar al Assad in 2011 is now a bloody civil war involving a dozen countries and conflicts. Thousands of people have been killed or are missing and thousands more are being displaced into countries such as Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, Europe and the United States. With no end in sight for the crisis, the numbers of refugees grow every day. Despite the men showing physical scars from battle, it's the women and children who show the scars of internal psychological trauma.
Women leave their homes in Syria because of threats of rape, torture, and death by the Syrian regime and ISIS, choosing to move to these camps knowing many are still unsafe, full of criminal activity, and contain limited resources like running water. Yet, these women have survived. Returning to northern Jordan in March of 2016, I witnessed the resilience and strength of these refugees and it resonated strongly with me. They have seen the worst of humanity and survived. Despite depression and fear of the unknown, they have rebuilt a life inside these camps and apartments.
The goal of this project is to record the lives of these women as they are now--illustrating the horror of war and the scars it leaves. Past memories of contentment, happiness and joy have become everyday suffering, loss, and trauma, with those memories seemingly never to return. Yet, familial bonds have become stronger than ever, bringing mothers, sisters, and children closer together, forcing them to rely on each other for some form of contentment.
Syrian women and children have come to accept that life will never return to what it once was. The rest of the world must come together to support them in whatever ways are possible.