A poignant photography project spearheaded by the Oscar-nominated director, photographer and Save the Children Ambassador Misan Harriman has supported Palestinian refugee children from Gaza to tell their own stories through the medium of photography. The incredible photo series, released in collaboration with Choose Love during World Refugee Week, shows their lives, dreams and aspirations during the harrowing war on their homeland.
Harriman led a special photography workshop in Cairo for a group of ten Palestinian children from Gaza supported by Save the Children Egypt, aged between 11 and 13, who were then given digital cameras and invited to document their lives over several weeks. The results are a stunning collection of visual diaries, chronicling young lives being rebuilt after the traumas of war.
“We have been through extremely tough conditions that words fail to describe. They include destruction, war, losing siblings, losing limbs, missing education and displacement” says Aisha*, a Save the Children Education Volunteer from Gaza who came to Egypt last year with her five children.
Witnessing the horrors of war from a young age has had a long-lasting and detrimental impact on the psychological wellbeing of many Palestinian children from Gaza arriving in Egypt. “When they hear a car sound here, they think it is bombing. When they hear a motorcycle, they think it is bombing. The children have been through more than most humans can fathom” says Aisha*.
Since October 2023, more than 100,000 Palestinians have crossed the border into Egypt seeking refuge from war in Gaza, healthcare and a chance at stability and education for their childreni. Save the Children provides them with a range of essential services, including cash assistance, medical provision and child-friendly spaces where children can learn, play and recover from the effects of war. Here, mental health support for children – through therapy, art and music - is a key priority.
Funded by the global refugee charity Choose Love, the photography project aimed to provide children with an outlet for their emotions – and a way to tell their story in their own way.
Writing about her newfound love of the medium, Rawan*, 12, says, “Taking photos allows me to capture memories and document them. Photos revive these memories again. They help me show how I see the world.”
Throughout the project, which took place over Ramadan, the children filled out scrapbooks, adding their own photographs, drawings and writings, which tell a story about their lives in Egypt, missing their homeland and a collective sense of pride in their Palestinian identity.
Khaled*, 13, said: “I feel proud that I am Palestinian. I feel proud that I am a child with my own identity and feel I have a positive future. I will work hard until I return to my country and home, Gaza, where I was born and raised.”
Another child participant, Shadi*, 13, writes that if he could choose a superpower, it would be Superman’s. He says, “I want to be strong enough to save anyone in danger and help people before they get hurt. I don’t like to see anyone sad or scared and I wish I could make this world a safer and happier place.”
During his trip to Cairo, Misan met mothers of the children taking part in the project, including 36-year-old Mayar* who has five children aged between 7 and 16. Her husband remains in Gaza due to injury.
Recalling the anxiety she faced living amid the threat of bombing, she says that one year of war felt like a lifetime. “Life was on hold there” she says. In Gaza she would constantly worry that if she ever had to leave her children to get food, she couldn’t be sure they would be alive when she got back.
“I’ve seen my friends who’ve lost children and it’s really hard” she says, “you don’t know if you’re going to find them in one piece or not”.
Now in Egypt, Save the Children has helped her to build a small community of friends. Her children have benefitted from the psychological support, which she noticed as they began to talk and share stories again. “They now wake up and think about the activities they can do at Save the Children and what it will give them in the future.”
She hopes one day to return to Gaza. “Gaza still lives in me” she says. “I am waiting for the border crossing to open to return. I know it’s a destroyed place; I know my home is destroyed but I want to return.”
Reflecting on his time in Cairo, Misan said:
“As war rages on in Gaza, we must remember that children are always conflict’s biggest victims – and so their voices and stories need to be heard. That’s what this project is all about: reminding people of the real, human experience behind the headlines.
“To see the children in Cairo have stability, to see them thrive and learn, is a real reminder of what has been taken from them, and why aid organisations like Save the Children are now more important than ever.”
Yasmine Colijn, Director of Emergency Programmes at Choose Love said: “In times of crisis, it’s even more important to provide children with an emotional outlet, and the tools to understand their own stories. We’re proud to support Save the Children and our other heroic partners in Gaza who are providing support that changes lives.”
Save the Children’s services in Egypt are in high-demand, with over 2,000 children on the waiting list for a place at one of the child-friendly spaces set up in response to the number of displaced Palestinian families.
At the same time, global aid cuts are threatening the charity’s ability to deliver vital services in Egypt. Several programs and projects implemented in the country as well as partnership contracts have been terminated, resulting in approximately 45,000 fewer children receiving support in Egypt in 2025 alone.
Save the Children is campaigning for the UK government to stop allying with Israel's atrocities in Gaza, and to take urgent action to prevent further atrocities against children in the West Bank. The UK’s recent decision to step up its action against the Government of Israel was the right thing to do but falls far short of what is needed. The charity is calling on the UK government to end its complicity and urgently suspend all arm transfers to Israel; hold all perpetrators to account and end Israel’s impunity; and take all steps to end Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory, which the International Court of Justice deemed unlawful in July 2024.
Check out the children's photo collection and find out more about the project here: Through their eyes: Children in Gaza capture life and hope.
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Notes to Editor:
*Names have been changed for safeguarding reasons.
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About Save the Children:
Save the Children exists to create lasting change for and with children. In more than 100 countries including the UK, we make sure children stay safe, healthy and learning, and change the future for good. We find new ways to reach children, no matter where they’re growing up. For a century, we’ve stood up for children’s rights and made sure their voices are heard.
For more information visit www.savethechildren.org.uk
About Choose Love:
Choose Love is a fast, flexible and innovative movement delivering critical humanitarian aid by working directly with the local communities who need them. From providing hot food, to search and rescue, they make sure that displaced communities have what they need, when they need it. Since 2015, they’ve worked across 50 countries, with over 580 local partners, supporting people in times of crises, providing daily essentials, and ensuring displaced families and individuals have what they need to rebuild their lives. By choosing love, they’ve supported more than 7 million people in almost a decade.