The Swallows of Syria

Photographs and text by

Matilde Gattoni

Jdeideh, Lebanon. Rabiah, 15 years old, comes from the village of Zahra. She arrived in Lebanon almost three months ago, together with her family. A 9th grade student, she already lost one year at school because of the uprising. She constantly has nightmares, where she dreams of bullets chasing her while she tries to run away. "I wake up crying and screaming," she says. © Matilde Gattoni

Faqaa, Lebanon. Sayyidah, 23 years old, from Qusayr, where her husband used to run a petrol station and make 2,000 USD per month. Their nice villa was destroyed they decided to leave. During the trip, two of her friends were killed by snipers right in front of her eyes. Shocked by the event, she is now unable to talk about anything related to the war. © Matilde Gattoni

Jdeideh, Lebanon.Nour, 45 years old, escaped from Al Qusair with her kids after the army had entered their house when they were away, and left women's lingerie hanging across the dining room and wrote a message on a wall that said "You are lucky your women were not here." Her husband decided to escape before they would come back and rape the women. © Matilde Gattoni

Jdeideh, Lebanon. Mona, 27 years old, comes from al Qusayr. She arrived in Lebanon three months ago with her husband and two small kids, after her brother-in-law got killed because he was a member of the Free Syrian Army. A former Arabic teacher, now Mona spends most of her day at home, looking after her kids and waiting for the fall of the Syrian regime. © Matilde Gattoni

Jdeideh, Lebanon. Tara, 25 years old (on the left holding her son), escaped from Baba Amro, Homs where she was living with ther husband and two kids. She left Syria after they had destroyed her house and her husband stayed there to help his father. She has no news since she left and is still hoping to hear from him. Unfortunately, her family knows that he got killed. © Matilde Gattoni

Jdeideh, Lebanon Nour, a 5-year-old girl from Al Qusair, escaped Syria four days ago with her mother and brothers after having lived almost three months in an undeground cave away from the shellings. She is now hosted by a Lebanese family. Nour is still psychologically traumatized by the war. © Matilde Gattoni

Tripoli, Lebanon. Samira, 28 years old, came from Hama almost three months ago, together with her four kids. She had to change five cars and bribe her way through the military checkpoints up to the Lebanese border. It cost her 400 USD, four times the average monthly wage of her husband. She now lives in Tripoli. "I miss the soil of Syria, the land," she explains. © Matilde Gattoni

Jdeideh, Lebanon. Latifah, 42 years old, comes from Zahra, where she used to live a comfortable life before the revolution started. Her husband was managing a transport company, but the vehicles got stuck and destroyed four months ago, after the village came under heavy shelling during clashes between the Syrian forces and the Free Syrian Army. © Matilde Gattoni

Tripoli, Lebanon. Zaynab, 16 years old, comes from Al-Khaldeeye, in Homs. She fled with her family three months ago, after the Army repeatedly knocked at her house to look for her father. © Matilde Gattoni

Tripoli, Lebanon. Zaynab, 16 years old, is taking care of her father and her siblings who are all mentally disabled. When asked what is it that she misses the most from home, Zaynab replied: "The smell of Homs." © Matilde Gattoni

Jdeideh, Lebanon. Wurud, 50 years old, comes from Zahra. She arrived four months ago with all her family of 22 people, after the Syrian security forces set up a checkpoint close to her house to clash against nearby positions of the Free Syrian Army. "One day they opened fire on both sides of our house. I went out and ran through the fields with my children. © Matilde Gattoni

Faqaa, Lebanon. Selma, 35 years old, is from Zahra. She arrived two weeks ago, after her house was razed by tanks and mortar shelling of the Syrian Army. "We became refugees in our own place, just because we are Sunni," she says bitterly. Without documents and money, her family is forced to rely on donations and help from the Lebanese families of the village she now lives in. © Matilde Gattoni

Jdeideh, Lebanon. Husniyah, 80 years old, comes from the village of Nazarieh. She arrived alone, three months ago, and she is now hosted in a small two-room-house together with seven other members of her family. Without money, they are helped by some neighbors who donated blankets and some food. © Matilde Gattoni

Somaya left Homs after finding the corpse of her tortured son in a sewage ditch. Zaynab escaped with her family when she discovered that Syrian soldiers had kidnapped, raped and killed three of her schoolmates. Aziza fled after both her husband and sister-in-law were killed by snipers. Like thousands of other Syrian women who escaped to Lebanon, they are now hiding in small villages within a few kilometers of the border, at the mercy of the Hezbollah and secret service agents allied with the Assad regime. 

Far from the safety of the refugee camps in Turkey, here Syrian women live in constant fear of being kidnapped or killed, hiding all day long in filthy basements and makeshift tents, consuming their last, meager savings to barely survive in a country that doesn't want them.Ignored by the Lebanese government, which refuses to recognize them as refugees, they cannot work and raise money for their families. Separated from their relatives and friends, unable to send their kids to school, some are even starting to question the outcome of the Syrian revolution, regretting the peaceful life they used to live before the Arab Spring.We have collected the personal stories and pictures of more than twenty Syrian women, recording their feelings of grief, bitterness and hope for the future of their country. All of them are shown with their faces covered, to protect their safety.

— Matilde Gattoni

This work won the Lens Culture International Exposure Awards 2012, 3rd Prize in the Portfolio Category.

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