20 February 2020, Za'atari Camp, Jordan: Players compete for the ball during football practice for girls in the Peace Oasis, a Lutheran World Federation space in the Za'atari Camp where Syrian refugees are offered a variety of activities on psychosocial support, including counselling, life skills trainings and other activities.
Imagine you’re Swedish, and for reasons barely known to yourself, you’ve decided to live your life with long curly hair, at the moment stretching some 40 centimeters down your back.
You’ve travelled to Jordan, to document faith-based efforts in support for Syrian refugees. And today, you think you’ve got it all covered as you’re visiting the Za’atari Camp.
But then you walk into a room, only to find that the psychosocial support activity you are about to cover, is a room full women practising… hairdressing!
Sometimes, life as a photographer is about living dangerously, and though my tone may be partly humorous in saying that, I think there really is something to be said for the trust needed for photography to work, and those small gestures and efforts we need to make from our side to dare be a bit uncomfortable ourselves.
Sometimes being a photographer just means you risk getting your hair done.
20 February 2020, Za’atari Camp, Jordan: Young girl Abeer Qudah acts as model for trainer Rehab Heraki during hairdressing class in the Peace Oasis, a Lutheran World Federation space in the Za’atari Camp where Syrian refugees are offered a variety of activities on psychosocial support, including counselling, life skills trainings and other activities.
Sometimes, being a photographer means almost getting run over by a group of girls fiercely battling for the ball.
20 February 2020, Za’atari Camp, Jordan: Players compete for the ball during football practice for girls in the Peace Oasis, a Lutheran World Federation space in the Za’atari Camp where Syrian refugees are offered a variety of activities on psychosocial support, including counselling, life skills trainings and other activities.
Sometimes it is to simply trust that the person in front of you knows you are there…
17 February 2020, Zarqa, Jordan: A boy jumps through hoops at the Lutheran World Federation community centre in Zarqa. Through a variety of activities, the Lutheran World Federation community centre in Zarqa serves to offer psychosocial support and strengthen social cohesion between Syrian, Iraqi and other refugees in Jordan and their host communities.
And jumps just slightly sideways from the last little hoop.
17 February 2020, Zarqa, Jordan: A boy jumps through hoops at the Lutheran World Federation community centre in Zarqa. Through a variety of activities, the Lutheran World Federation community centre in Zarqa serves to offer psychosocial support and strengthen social cohesion between Syrian, Iraqi and other refugees in Jordan and their host communities.
Sometimes it means to have it all in check.
18 February 2020, Amman, Jordan: Basketball training is underway at the Rufaida Al Aslamieh Primary Mixed School in the Sahab district. The school serves more than 1,000 students from kindergarten up to 10th grade, most of them girls from Jordan but also some from Syria and other countries, and, in the lower grades, also boys.
Only to find a moment later that the ball is rapidly coming your way…
18 February 2020, Amman, Jordan: Basketball training is underway at the Rufaida Al Aslamieh Primary Mixed School in the Sahab district. The school serves more than 1,000 students from kindergarten up to 10th grade, most of them girls from Jordan but also some from Syria and other countries, and, in the lower grades, also boys.
Or that the event in front of you takes an unexpected turn.
17 February 2020, Zarqa, Jordan: A girl takes the lead in showing an Indian dance during a Zumba session for children at the Lutheran World Federation community centre in Zarqa. Through a variety of activities, the Lutheran World Federation community centre in Zarqa serves to offer psychosocial support and strengthen social cohesion between Syrian, Iraqi and other refugees in Jordan and their host communities.
But most of all, there is the risk of realizing you have just been able to witness something special, that you’ve met some of your new heroes.
19 February 2020, Amman, Jordan: 10-year-old Bayan, a girl born with Cerebral Palsy, attends the Al Yarmouk Primary Mixed School, in the Lewa’a Al Jama’a district. Here, playing with her English teacher Abeer Shahin. Following three years in a school exclusively for children with disabilities, today Bayan attends 4th grade at Al Yarmouk, which has recently opened up to receive her. The school teaches some 750 students from 1st – 6th grade, most of them Jordanian, but some also from Syria and other countries. The school has received support from the Lutheran World Federation in refurbishing their buildings and classrooms, as well as training on protection and social cohesion, including how to become more inclusive of children with disabilities.
And that you have a job to do in bringing a story to light.
20 February 2020, Za’atari Camp, Jordan: Four-year-old Hajar Abas-Abas and her father Abas-Abas visit the Smurf Centre, a daycare centre operated by the Lutheran World Federation in the Za’atari Camp for Syrian refugees. The centre is intended to help empower women in the camp by giving them space to attend life skills trainings or other activities. For Hajar, however, spending time at the Smurf Centre has had a profound impact, as she had been falling behind in development of her speaking abilities, something that has come to develop much more quickly after coming to the Smurf Centre.
Photos taken on assignment for the Lutheran World Federation. Material is forthcoming.
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