A Glimpse Into Syrian Children's Reality

As Prime Minister David Cameron hosts the UK's first conference dedicated to tackle female genital mutilation & early marriage today, we are once again reminded that children living in countries facing humanitarian crises are the most vulnerable.

Two months ago, PhotoVoice partnered with World Vision to run a participatory photography project in Zarqa, Jordan. We wanted to create a portfolio of photographs to tell the stories of a group of young Syrian refugees – their experiences and perspectives on violence in conflict back home.

Forced to flee their homes and communities, this group of youths have been living in host communities in Jordan. Each one of them has their own individual story and each of them has experienced things that you and I can never imagine.

According to the United Nations, the number of Syrian refugees is expected to rise to 4.1 million by the end of 2014. Women and children are amongst the most vulnerable populations affected by the crisis. Sexual violence and the fear of sexual violence have led many families to flee their homes to become internally displaced, and seek refuge in neighbouring countries like Jordan.

In May 2014, in partnership with World Vision’s Syria Emergency Response Team, as well as a local organization, PhotoVoice travelled to Jordan to run a series of workshops for youths in the host community in Zarqa.

Project Begins

Upon arrival and in starting our initial research, it was crucial that we engaged with the local partners and communities. After all, in order for our youths to comfortably and properly share their stories and perspectives, we needed to have a thorough understanding of the community and these local partners’ input was instrumental.

Thankfully, everyone was cooperative and eager to be involved. As the details of the programme content began to take shape, we were eager to start running separate workshops for our young men and women.

This group of young people was nervous but certainly focused and keen to learn. They were between 14–20 years old; all came from different backgrounds and used to live in various parts in Syria.

For many of them, it had been a long time since they were in a group or learning setting where they got to share and chat. In particular, for some of the young women, it was their first time being alone on their own since fleeing from Syria.

Workshops

We provided a wide-range of workshops ranging from photography lessons, working with cameras, script-writing and understanding the role of captions and images.

After each workshop, the youths not only completed their work independently but were keen to learn and develop their skills further. They were able to grasp the metaphor and symbolism in relation to the photographic image and had no trouble using text creatively in relation to their images.

Both youth groups were heavily engaged in conversations and it was evident that they were thinking deeply about everything that was discussed and trying to relate it to their work. Speaking comfortably and sharing their thoughts and experiences, we managed to catch a unique glimpse into their lives. 

This group of youths had real insight into their own experiences and what the impact of war and conflict had on them. They were sad, lost, angry, confused and felt a huge sense of injustice for Syria; but also in what they felt was perhaps a muted response from the rest of the world. Yet what they continued to hold on to is a hope for the future.

The project was showcased in a local community centre where over 150 people attended. A massive celebration and success, we showed the series of photographs as well as the screening of a group digital story youths produced. Additionally, the project was also shown at the Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict Global Summit in June.

Youths and children are some of the most vulnerable people in an emergency. Through this project, we were able to get a glimpse into their reality.

The photographs these youths produced are a reflection of their experience, feelings and perspectives on the Syrian crisis. Their insightful depiction of the situation has created a portfolio of images & a group digital story of beauty, power & poetry.

In being part of this experience with World Vision, we hope to continue disseminate the voices of these young people and keep their hopes alive. More importantly, we hope to continue to impact on not just politicians and policy-makers, but on all of us – that this project will serve as a reminder to all that the work is never done.

Click here for more information on Photovoice and our joint project initiative.