LEBANON / REFUGEE DOLLS

Handmade dolls, embroidered by refugee women in Lebanon, are bringing hidden tales of war-torn Syria to life. UNHCR

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:36
• Production Date: 30 March 2017
• Asset Language: Arabic
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - UNHCR
• Subject Topical: REFUGEES
• Geographic Subject: LEBANON; SYRIA
• MAMS Id: 1858587
• Parent Id: 1858587
• Alternate Title: unifeed170330e

Description

STORY: LEBANON / REFUGEE DOLLS
TRT: 02:36
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE:

DATELINE: 06 MARCH 2017, SHATILA, LEBANON

Shotlist

06 MARCH 2017, SHATILA, LEBANON

1. Various shots, Amina embroidering a fish doll
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Amina, Syrian refugee:
“I am embroidering a fish. There is a family that wants to travel. It’s actual dream is to travel. They have a little girl who is afraid of travelling. Why? Because she is scared of drowning in the sea and being eaten by fish. So this is the story of the fish.”
3. Close up, doll
4. Close up, dolls in basket
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Marianne Moussalli, Lebanese Designer:
“This is Qadria from the Aleppo collection. She tells the story of a refugee’s dream. This is story of Hassan who wants to rebuild his house in his village. So we embroidered his house here and his story is on the back. This card on the back explains the story further.”
6. Close up, Marianne pointing at doll
7. UPSOUND (Arabic) Marianne Moussalli, Lebanese Designer:
“Qadria is his mother. The ones who embroider the dolls are refugees too. This way refugees help other refugees.’’
8. Wide shots, women hand-sowing
9. Med shot, woman sowing
10. Close up, woman holding embroidered cloth
11. Wide shot, Marianne instructing women
12. Close up, Marianne holding doll
13. Various shots, women speaking to Marianne
14. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Marianne Moussalli, Lebanese Designer:
“People mostly like the stories. They know that if they buy Salma (the doll), they would be helping Salma (the refugee). And the fact that their money is going back to help a specific person is really leaving an impact on people.”
15. Various shots, Amina embroidering a doll

Storyline

Handmade dolls, embroidered by refugee women in Lebanon, are bringing hidden tales of war-torn Syria to life.

Inside one of the countless low-rise buildings in the Shatila refugee camp, 56-year old Amina meticulously embroidered fish scales onto cotton fabric. The Syrian refugee is one of many who have fled the conflict in her country and found shelter in this Palestinian refugee camp in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Amina, Syrian refugee:
“I am embroidering a fish. There is a family that wants to travel. It’s actual dream is to travel. They have a little girl who is afraid of travelling. Why? Because she is scared of drowning in the sea and being eaten by fish. So this is the story of the fish.”

In April last year, the Mousalli family, comprised of a Lebanese father, a Syrian mother, and their daughters Marianne and Melina, decided to bring the stories and dreams of Syrian mothers in war-torn Aleppo closer to the world. Through a relative who remains in Syria, they collect the stories of ordinary Syrians, then turn them into sketches and have them embroidered onto cotton dolls by Syrian refugee women.

Entitled ‘The Ana Collection’ – the word ‘Ana’ means ‘me’ in Arabic – the project seeks to address the hidden pain of Syrians who remain inside a country ravaged by war, through art and self-expression. Marianne explained that each doll holds the name of the person whose story it carries.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Marianne Moussalli, Lebanese Designer:
“This is Qadria from the Aleppo collection. She tells the story of a refugee’s dream. This is story of Hassan who wants to rebuild his house in his village. So we embroidered his house here and his story is on the back. This card on the back explains the story further.”

Marianne said people sometimes focus on the big war and forget that there are individuals living through this war with stories to tell.

UPSOUND (Arabic) Marianne Moussalli, Lebanese Designer:
“Qadria is his mother. The ones who embroider the dolls are refugees too. This way refugees help other refugees.’’

The price for a doll ranges from US$25 to US$65, depending on its size. Proceeds are channelled back to the mothers and children behind the stories and in part cover the production costs and the compensation for the 80 women embroiderers in Lebanon. The project has brought out two collections: ‘From Inside Aleppo’ and ‘The Holiday Collection,’ in which children from Aleppo expressed their wishes for Christmas. It is currently working on a third, ‘Stories from the Bekaa’, relating stories and dreams from refugees living in the Bekaa Valley in east Lebanon.

Marianne said many people buy the dolls for their children and tell them the stories of the children behind the dolls which makes it much more relatable.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Marianne Moussalli, Lebanese Designer:
“People mostly like the stories. They know that if they buy Salma (the doll), they would be helping Salma (the refugee). And the fact that their money is going back to help a specific person is really leaving an impact on people.”

Since the project’s inception, over 1,500 dolls with 48 stories have been sold in countries including Lebanon, Kuwait, France and Australia. The tag on each doll carries a message that Marianne says they work towards every day, in the name of all Syrian mothers: “I protect the dreams of my children.”

Lebanon is currently host to more than a million registered Syrian refugees, accounting for roughly a fifth of the total population. As a result, the small country has the highest proportion of refugees anywhere in the world.