Making Home Away

So I sat them down and told them: the five of us are here, me, you and your father, wherever the five of us are, that place should be your heaven.
Discover their stories

Warda

Current 'Home' Jordan
Refugee gardening in Za'atari refugee camp, Jordan, 2019. Image by Yasmine Shamma

One refugee woman responds to the question of what reminds her of home:

"Nature… trees... the markets... flowers... pink roses... remind me of Syria."

Plastic flowers decorate a shelf within a caravan in Za'atari refugee camp, Jordan, 2019. Image by Yasmine Shamma

Damask roses, named after Syria's capital city, are renowned for their delicate scent and flavour, and are used to produce a range of products from syrups and jams to perfume and teas.  This video tells the story of a Syrian family in Lebanon who have rebuilt their business by growing roses from seeds they brought with them when they fled their home in Syria.

YASMINE SHAMMA

This extract is from an interview conducted by YASMINE SHAMMA during 2019 as part of the British Academy funded ‘Lost and Found: A Digital Archive of Migration, Displacement and Resettlement’  project’s Making Home Away archive.

Sabiha

Current 'Home'
Jordan

Amira

Current 'Home'
Jordan