A friendship across borders

In December of the year 2017 when Muhammed Muheisen won the “UNICEF Photo of the Year” it all started. His winning picture is a portrait of Zahra, a girl who fled violence and war from her hometown in Syria with her family and has since lived in informal tented settlements in Jordan. Zahra was barely five when Muhammed Muheisen met her for the first time in 2015 in a camp in Jordan.

In May of 2018 Muhammed visited Zahra again; this time with a letter from Germany in his luggage, young Mariella from Osnabrück wrote a letter to Zahra after seeing her portrait in the newspapers and came up with the idea of writing Zahra a comforting letter – hoping it will offer Zahra some comfort. In this letter she told her new friend that she is so sad that she had to leave her home due to the war and she hopes that they remain in touch and connected. Next thing, a letter from Zahra filled with hope and excitement was carried by Muhammed to Mariella in Germany.

The two girls are almost the same age and yet they experience their childhood in very different ways. Mariella is enrolled in school, however, for Zahra the young Syrian refugee access to education remains a big dream for the time being. “I dream that everyone has a home, is happy and can go to school,” said Zahra to Muhammed in Jordan. For more than three years Muhammed Muheisen has been visiting the Syrian family again and again, he maintains contact with her and her family because for Muhammed this is normal when he photographs people to stay connected and carry their stories out into the world. Unfortunately, not much has changed in their situation, neither Zahra nor her siblings can go to school. They still do not have a real home, and every day is still a real challenge.

In 2019, for more than a year, parcels and letters have been going back and forth between Germany and Jordan. Two girls, almost the same age living two different childhoods yet they share the same questions and the same dreams, reminding us that there is nothing impossible.

In 2020, amid the pandemic, both Mariella and Zahra remained in touch by messages through Muhammed, each one wishing the other to be safe and healthy. 

Most recently in March 2021, a package from Germany was handed to Zahra in Jordan and a package from Jordan was handed to Mariella in Germany. 

Zahra from Syria and Mariella from Germany have never met in person yet, they have something special in common even though they do not speak the same language or live in the same country.