A female Yemeni photographer finds peace in London

For many of us in London, the Yemeni war isn’t much more than just another war in the Middle East. But for Thana Faroq, it’s home. The 27-year-old street photographer grew up and lived in Sanaa, the once known capital, now taken over by the Houthi rebel group.

“War was the last thing I ever imagined that I would experience,” Faroq said. “Everything has changed. It’s very sad for me to not recognise my city anymore.”

The Yemen conflict is between the Houthi rebels and allied forces against a Saudi-led coalition. The coalition began in March 2015 to restore the government that fled the country after Houthis took over the capital in September 2014.

During the time of the interview in November, the UN had reported the death toll to be more than 4,000; however, it has grown to 10,000 by early January with more than 40,000 injured. The humanitarian situation has been getting worse and worse with food and water being a scarcity and children starving every day.

Thana used to take pictures of the unique moments of street life in Sanaa, capturing people as they are going about their daily lives. However, when the war erupted her photos changed. They went from peace and happiness to destruction and chaos.

An afternoon in Yemen

Yemeni women carrying water

Yemen after the war began

Yemeni destruction

Yemen during the war

Yemen homes destroyed by bombs

Bomb-caused destruction

Photos by Thana Faroq

One might wonder, why such a young woman would go out on the streets of bombings and put herself in danger for the sake of taking pictures. She said that having her camera and producing images helped her cope with the war.

Take a listen of here account HERE.

Moving to London and starting her graduate photography course brought back the memories she had during the time of peace back in Yemen. Ever since she arrived in September last year, she has been out on the streets taking pictures of Londoners and famous London sites. Although, there’s one recurring item that appears on many of her images. Windows. Let me have her tell you why.

A Yemeni analyst Baraa Shiban said there has been a larger conflict evolving for quite some time, not to mention that Yemen already had a poverty status, even before the war.

“Many many reports coming from almost all UN agencies, refer to, in a way you could say, a quite humanitarian disaster coming, but no one raised the red flag. But only when the war started,” Shiban said. “And because of the nature of a conflict of war, the humanitarian situation dramatically just gets worse.”

And it has — thousands of civilians die and get injured month after month. According to a UN humanitarian report published in November, 18.8 million people are in need in Yemen. It's more than half the country's population, which is 27.4 million.

But despite all the destruction and chaos, Thana says she will go back after she finishes her graduate programme because she feels responsible to capture Yemeni’s life and advocate for her country.

For the people of Yemen, hearing the sounds of bombs had become part of everyday life. No matter if it was day or night the bombs kept coming.

“No one can get used to the sound of bombs, and when one hits, all you can do is go to the basement,” Thana said, noting that sleeping through a quite night would hardly ever happen. “I lived in a nightmare, I think.”