Portfolio
Matilde Gattoni:
The Swallows of Syria
Lebanon - Tripoli - Zaynab, 16-year-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. A honour student, Zaynab was prevented to attend the lessons after some soldiers kidnapped, raped and killed some of her schoolmates in January. Despite the difficulties of living in Lebanon, she feels that victory for the revolutionaries is very close, and she is confident she will go back to Syria soon. "When it all started I expected it to be swift and quick, like in Egypt. But Assad is a hard head, and has powerful international allies", she explains. Zaynab 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
Lebanon - Faqaa - Sayyidah, 23-year-old, comes from Qusayr, where her husband used to run a petrol station and make 2,000 USD per month. Their nice villa was destroyed during the clashes four months ago, when 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 this event or anything that is related to the war, she was receiving psychiatric assistance in Lebanon for the first months but had to quit since the treatment was too expensive. © Matilde Gattoni
Lebanon - Jdeideh - Rasha, 27-year-old with two kids, comes from Soran. She arrived in Soran on the 1st of March to flee the heavy fightings between rebels and security forces. Apart from her husband and kids, the rest of her family is still in Syria, but Rasha would like to settle in Lebanon and not go back. One of her brothers is serving in the Army, and she is concerned he might get killed by the Free Syrian Army in her village. She is not confident about the future of her country. “As a Syrian, personally, I don't know what freedom is”, she says. © Matilde Gattoni
Lebanon - Faqaa - Somaya, 56 years old, comes from Talbiseh, a small town on the outskirts of Homs. Seven months ago, her 31-year-old son Ali was arrested by masked men soldiers during a raid in her house. Three days later, his severely tortured body was found in a nearby sewage ditch. "He had a huge wound in the stomach, one of his arms was broken and both kneecaps had been removed" she recounts. She now lives in Lebanon with two of her sons, who work as labourer in the nearby fields to raise some money. © Matilde Gattoni
Lebanon - Jdeideh - Nour, 45 years old escaped from Al Qusair with her kids after the army had entered into their house when they were away leaving behind them women's lingerie hanging across the dining room and a writing 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
Lebanon - Jdeideh - Karam, 28-year-old, comes from Homs. Her house was in Bab Amr, right in front of the tanks of the Syrian Army. After being moved by the rebels to another house at the centre of the neighbourhood, four months ago she decided to leave, together with her, family. During the clandestine trip to Lebanon she was helped by the Free Syrian Army. “They showed us the way, they kept my little baby... If it weren't for them, we wouldn't be here today”. © Matilde Gattoni
Lebanon - Jdeideh - Tara, 25 years old (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 still hoping to hear from him. Unfortunately her family knows that he got killed by the Syrian Army one month after she had left but they'd rather not tell her. © Matilde Gattoni
Lebanon - Jdeideh - Asma is 30 year old and she escaped from Al Qusair with her family after the Syrian Army killed one of her kids. "One day they knocked at the door, when I opened I was carrying my baby in my arms, they asked me where my husband was and I told them he was not in, so one of the soldiers took out a knife from his pocket and cut my baby's throat who died in my arms" © Matilde Gattoni
Lebanon - Jdeideh - Nour, a 5 year old girl from Al Qusair escaped Syria 4 days ago with her mother and brothers after having lived almost 3 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, everytime she hears the bell ringing or someone knocking at the dorr she starts panicking and crying thinking that the Syrian Army is here to get her. © Matilde Gattoni
Lebanon - Jdeideh - 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
Lebanon - Tripoli - Badiah, 51-year-old, comes from the neighborhood of Bab Drieb, in Homs. She arrived in Lebanon two months ago, after the army stormed into her house and arrested on of her sons. One of her sisters was so shocked by the event that she went into a coma and suffered brain damages. “I am here in Lebanon only to treat my daughter”, she explains. Badiah has left her husband and two other sons in Homs, where they still live in their house, partially destroyed by the shellings. “There is just one safe room remaining, they sleep and live there” © Matilde Gattoni
Lebanon - Tripoli - Samira, 28-year-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, before bursting into tears. “We live in misery here. The kids don't go to school, and everytime my husband is late I become hysterical, fearing that he might have been stopped at a checkpoint and sent back to Syria”. © Matilde Gattoni
Lebanon - Jdeideh - Mona, 27-year-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 his kids and waiting for the fall of the Syrian regime. “The war will leave big scars in the country”, she thinks. “This bloodshed will always remain in the mind of the people”. © Matilde Gattoni
Lebanon - Jdeideh - Aziza, 35-year-old, is a Turkmen Syrian from Qusayr. She fled her home country two months ago, after her husband and her sister-in-law (whose kids she is now raising) were both killed by sniper fire while going to the souq. She constantly goes back to Qusayr to check on her father, whose health is deteriorating fast. Now, she lives in a makeshift tent camp on the outskirts of a Lebanese village in the Bekaa Valley, where she picks apricot to survive. She gets paid less than five USD for seven hours of work per day. © Matilde Gattoni
Lebanon - Jdeideh - Latifah, 42-year-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. “At that time we used to sleep under the trees and go back to the houses during the day, for fear of being hit”, she remembers. Her family now lives in a concrete shed on a rugged terrain, infested with insects, scorpions and snakes. © Matilde Gattoni
Lebanon - Jdeideh - Djamilla, 56 years old escaped from Baba Amro, Homs 4 months ago after months of living in terror in and out an underground cave where she was hiding with her family during the bombings and shellings. Djamilla is now being hosted by a Lebanese family along with 20 other members of her family. who escaped leaving all their belongings behind them and have recently learned by neighbours that their house was destroyed. © Matilde Gattoni
Lebanon - Tripoli - Zaynab, 16-year-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. A honour student, Zaynab was prevented to attend the lessons after some soldiers kidnapped, raped and killed some of her schoolmates in January. Despite the difficulties of living in Lebanon, she feels that victory for the revolutionaries is very close, and she is confident she will go back to Syria soon. “When it all started I expected it to be swift and quick, like in Egypt. But Assad is a hard head, and has powerful international allies”, she explains. Zaynab 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
Lebanon - Jdeideh - Wurud, 50-year-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 hour house. I went out and ran through the fields with my children. From distance, I saw our village being destroyed, house by house”, she recounts. Although her village is just few kilometres from the border, it took them six hours t reach it through shelling, bombs and sniper fire. Her husband, a former Arabic teacher, suffered a stroke in Lebanon and is now unable to work. Her sons work as labourers in Lebanon, “but they are treated like slaves”, she complains. “They are paid half the money of a Lebanese for double the work”. © Matilde Gattoni
Lebanon - Faqaa - 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
Lebanon - Jdeideh - Djamilla, (right) 56 years old escaped from Baba Amro, Homs 4 months ago after months of living in terror in and out an underground cave where she was hiding with her family during the bombings and shellings. Djamilla is now being hosted by a Lebanese family along with 20 other members of her family. who escaped leaving all their belongings behind them and have recently learned by neighbours that their house was destroyed. © Matilde Gattoni
Lebanon - Jdeideh - Najiba, 63 years old, comes from the village of Soran, North of Hama. She arrived in Lebanon eleven months ago, after the first protests erupted in Hama. “The Army was shooting at everyone, I remember seeing 50 or 60 people dead”. She now lives in a concrete shed, in an orchard on the outskirts of Jdeideh. In exchange of looking after the trees, she can stay for free. “I would go back to Syria tomorrow, if it wasn't for the kids. I am very worried about their safety”, she explains, pointing at the four grandchildren she lives with. © Matilde Gattoni
Lebanon - Faqaa - 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
Lebanon - Tripoli - Zahra, 46 years old, arrived in Tripoli from Zahra almost one year ago, during Ramadan, after seeing the bodies of the first protesters killed by the security forces being paraded along the village at funerals. Her family savings ran out last month, and she doesn't know how to pay the next-month-rent of 200 USD. “Yes, the regime is corrupted and used to mistreat people, but before the revolution we used to live better. Live was quiet and peaceful”, she says bitterly. © Matilde Gattoni
Lebanon - Jdeideh - Husniyah, 80-year-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 neighbours who donated them blankets and some food. “The house is so small that we have to cook in the bathroom, but as long as I am alive, I don't care about it”, she says. © Matilde Gattoni
Lebanon - Tripoli - Zaynab, 16-year-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. A honour student, Zaynab was prevented to attend the lessons after some soldiers kidnapped, raped and killed some of her schoolmates in January. Despite the difficulties of living in Lebanon, she feels that victory for the revolutionaries is very close, and she is confident she will go back to Syria soon. "When it all started I expected it to be swift and quick, like in Egypt. But Assad is a hard head, and has powerful international allies", she explains. Zaynab 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
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 escaped to Lebanon, they are now hiding in small villages within a few kilometers from the border, at the mercy of the Hezbollah and secret service agents allied to the Assad regime. Far from the safety of 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, meagre 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 have before the Arab Spring.
I 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 face-covered to protect their safety.
Matilde Gattoni started her career in Palestine in 2000 covering the second Intifada. She was then commissioned by the UN to cover the consequences of war and drought on the local population in Eritrea and Tadjikistan. In 2004 Medecins sans Frontiere asks her to cover the psychological consequences of the tsunami and the war in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Since then Matilde has focused her work on post war countries and the condition of refugees mainly in the Middle East and Africa.
Her stories are published in Time, Time Lightbox, The Financial Times, The New York Times, Der Spiegel, The Observer, Die Zeit, Foreign Policy, Neon Magazine, Geo, The New Yorker, The Guardian, Vanity Fair, Elle, The International Herald Tribune.
Her book “Uzbekistan, 10 years after independence”; published in 2002 was made in collaboration with the Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid, one of the major experts of Central Asia and Afghanistan. The book depicts the social frame in Uzbekistan 10 years after its independence from the USSR and poses the delicate question of the future of the Uzbek nation, the most powerful country in Central Asia thanks to its strategic geographical position.
She has been awarded the IPA, Px3, Lens Culture, International Color Award.
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http://www.matildegattoni.photoshelter.com
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