LAURA BOUSHNAK, PALESTINE
LEBANON: MOHAMMED LOVES TO SWIM
To stand on one’s own feet – that’s usually a metaphor for the hope to be independent, to have a job or maybe even start a company.
For Palestinian Mohammed, who turned twenty in 2016, it is something he can’t even dream of. He literally, not just figuratively, has no feet and no legs since he was hit by a cluster bomb, a kind of ammunition used in the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.

© Laura Boushnak (Freelance Photographer, Rawiya Collective)
Mohammed lives in a Palestinian refugee camp in Southern Lebanon. That’s where photographer Laura Boushnak, born in 1976 in Kuwait and also a child of Palestinian refugees, went to find her parents. Fortunately, she found them safe and well, but also found Mohammed, a young man both mentally and physically traumatized. Since then, Boushnak has accompanied Mohammed in his daily struggles.
The photographer, who has worked as a Middle East reporter for news agencies AP and AFP for some time, documents the suffering of a now young man whose injuries prevented him from attending school and from taking care of his relatives, traditionally his duty as the only son in the family. He finds his moments of joy in swimming – where he can keep up with all the healthy people whose lifestyles he would like to share. Mohammed urgently needs new prostheses; he depends on doctors who adjust them for him. And on people who finance them.
Unexploded cluster bombs – just like land mines – remain a threat for civilians for years after a conflict has ended. The risk is particularly high for children. 119 nations have banned this kind of weapon so far – but the great powers continue to produce them.
Curriculum Vitae: Laura Boushnak (Freelance Photographer, Rawiya Collective)

© Laura Boushnak (Freelance Photographer, Rawiya Collective)