The War is Still Here

War is not limited to conflicts between countries; there are times when the fight starts within us. We escape from something and resist another to be able to live
again. It is like being in competition with ourselves in a constant battle to be our best.
Everyone in the time of Covid felt the psychological impacts of wars waged within.
The circumstances and challenges that refugees face in other countries are often very tough.
They often escaped political conflict, but they faced other forms of battle in other
countries such as those with loneliness, fear, isolation, fragility, sadness.

They lived through civil wars
and post-war hardships, but the transition to another country really changed their lives when
they faced the pandemic.
The purpose of the project was driven my passion of diving deeply into the lives of those refugee women. I wanted to bring to life the story of women in
previously undocumented physical and mental states. The story is told from the inside through their lack of hope
for the future.

The curtain symbolizes mystery in the migrants? stories. The photographer sees them as a metaphor for wanting to keep a distance from the outside world and the desire to hide. It represents people who have been separated from their families for a long time. Also, the curtain symbolizes the upcoming reunion with their families and wives. The circumstances and challenges refugees face in other countries are very tough. They often escape war, only to face different battles in their newly adopted countries: loneliness, fear, isolation, fragility, and sadness. They lived through a civil war and the post-war hardships, the transition to another country, and a pandemic.
Feeling disoriented I think a lot about making the right decisions because you never know where your choices will lead you until you take them. Due to coronavirus, I’ve started questioning my decisions about being away from my family in these times. I’m so confused, afraid and have a lot of mixed feelings about the nightmare we are waiting for and the world is witnessing right now.
Arafaat, 27, from Ethiopia. While she was 4 months pregnant, she left her country with her husband and each of their families and moved to Egypt. Due to widespread political persecutions, her husband disappeared in 2019. She was alone, looking for her husband throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, but he didn’t come home until recently. Arafaat said, “we became strangers in Egypt and lived some hard times but being with my husband makes it much better.” Jun. 27, 2021.

Portrait of Elham Zaidi in the mirror inside his house in Egypt. She worries all of the time about her daughter.
Elham Zaidi, 46. years old from the south of Yemen. She has one son with autism and another one with obstruction. She came to Egypt in search of medicine for her sons, leaving her daughter with her aunt. Later her daughter went missing, and Elham thought that maybe she had died. She then received word from the Red Crescent that her daughter was alive, but that she couldn’t see her due to Covid. Her internal conflict is reaching extreme levels, as she is doing nothing but worrying about the future.
Elham Zaidi wrote a letter to her daughter during the pandemic.
Khwater, 35 from the northern parts of Sudan. Khwater had to seek refuge in Egypt to be with her sister, the only one who had successfully left Sudan due to its turbulent climate. Her sister was a great source of support for her through that hard time. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she faced conflicts of all nature: financially, mentally, and physically, but being with her sister made it all much more manageable. Her sister passed away three months after being diagnosed to be in the final stages of cancer. After her sister’s death, Khwater said, “The world stopped for me. It was the most challenging time ever. I wish everyone to exploit every moment with their siblings as separation is very hard.”
Awatif Hager, 52 years old, is from Nouba’s mountains in Sudan. She came to Egypt fleeing political unrest in their home country, where they faced very harsh political circumstances. After radicalized militants assassinated her son and raped her daughter, she decided to go to Egypt in search for refuge. After moving, Sudanese militants started sending death threats to her daughter, as they did with her son. Her daughter leaves Egypt in fear for her life. Awatif lived alone throughout the quarantine, during which her deepest psychological conflicts start. She is left thinking about what she will do in this life without her kids.
Hawaa Othman, 41years old from Sudan, a mother of five, used to be an owner of an investment company specializing in public services. However, due to conflicts with her husband’s family during the COVID-19 pandemic, she lost her company and investments. Instead of working with Egypt in international imports, she moved there seeking refuge.
Haya, 35, from Ethiopia. She left her family and country and moved to Egypt, escaping the political persecutions occurring in Ethiopia at the time. She married in Egypt in 2019 with high hopes for the future, but could not have known what fate had in store for her. At one point in 2020, during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, her husband began feeling fatigued, and was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of COVID. All their friends and neighbors avoided Haya when they heard that her husband had been infected. She faced the subsequent stress all on her own, until she one day heard the news of her husband’s death. Her mental state has now gone from bad to worse, and she has no idea how to start living again.
My Carpet inside the room in South Africa. I spent all my time inside my room during covid (( Allah has in his hands everything. We don’t own anything, it’s only by our prayers that this and the coming too shall pass ))
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