Only two years into the war in Syria, over 3,500 journalists had traveled through Camp Za'atari to tell stories of the Syrian people who were forced out of their country to live in exile in Jordan. The stories told were somewhat black and white and largely tragic. In response to the mainstream media reporting of the refugee experience, Felsman Fellow Laura Doggett organized two workshops to give Syrian girls living as refugees in Jordan's camps and urban areas cameras and the chance to tell their own stories.

Walaa recounts her terrifying journey as a 14-year-old girl from Syria to Jordan, and how filmmaking has given her hope through the chance to voice her story and reach out to other girls with similar experiences. Walaa is from Dara'a, Syria and now lives as a refugee in Irbid, Jordan. “Many of the events from the war remain fixed in our minds and hearts because they were so severe. But we can't articulate them, and so I chose to do art and filmmaking and use some of the courage and bravery found within me to express a part of what is inside of me, and what is happening to many young women in my community...”