The teenage years are some of the most stressful and bewildering in a person’s life. Everything is new, you’re trying to figure out who you are and your place in the world, you’re trying to figure out who you want to be. The experience of Syrian refugee girls is especially complex, with many trying to balance tradition with pop culture, friendships with displacement, and vulnerability with their dreams for the future.
This project includes Syrian refugee girls living in both Lebanon and Sweden. Lebanon shares a border with Syria, and is a convenient but desperate place for refugees to relocate. The system there is not set up to support the number of refugees who have arrived. In contrast, many Syrians risk their lives seeking permanent residence in European countries like Sweden, who until recently have welcomed refugees with open arms. (Sweden has begun to amend some of its asylum policies due to a very large influx of refugees to the country in recent years.)
Adolescent Syrians are in a particularly precarious situation, as many of them have had their lives and educations halted by civil war. When the war ends, this generation will be responsible for rebuilding their country. The longer they are away from home, the more difficult and far away their dreams feel.
