Abdulilah Alabdullatif - Djibouti

I had gotten used to “the good life” – smart phones, plentiful food and achievable dreams. I thought this life was available to everyone. While I was taking pictures at the opening of the Yemeni refugee camp in Djibouti, I saw the little girls’ dreams through their eyes. I captured their smiles – their ultimate ambition was to be in a picture.

One of the girls stood in front of me asking me to take a picture of her that shows a smile that I knew did not fully represent her reality. She encouraged three other girls to have their pictures taken, too.

They said, “Yes! We want to take a picture like Basmah!” The name “Basmah” means “a smile”. Even with the difficult circumstances under which she has lived, that smile never left her face. As I took each picture, they were so thrilled, and held their breath in excitement and anticipation of the next one.