Ali Jehad

Born in 1986, I spent the first five years of my childhood living in a small village in southern Iraq. As the country suffered heavily during the years surrounding The Gulf War, my family and I ended up in Rafha Refugee Camp in northern Saudi Arabia in 1991. I stayed there until 1993 before my whole family were sent to Sweden as part of the UN refugee program. Growing up as a political refugee in Sweden, I would soon realize that no matter what I did, or how well I did it, for a lot of people, I would just remain a refugee. During the refugee migration events of 2015, I decided to help out a local organization as a translator which led me to become a coordinator alongside hundreds of other volunteers. There I found my love for activism and humanitarian work. Six years later, I am using the tools and experiences my life as a refugee have provided me. I am currently aiming for a career as a documentary photographer and photo-journalist.