‘Our Last Day in the Orchard’ is a painful story, full of suffering and longing narrated by a girl of only seventeen, who experienced many forms of violence caused by war, terrorism, forced displacement, dislocation, and hardship in refugee camps in Iraqi Kurdistan. The story is part of a collection of narratives titled Shattered Hopes, produced by internally displaced women from these camps, emerging from research on ‘Gender-Based Violence and Displacement,’ led by the University of Bristol, funded by ESRC/AHRC. Through this art-based creative partnership, these survivors gained confidence in telling their stories, because they felt their personal suffering was genuinely being listened to ‘for the first time.’ This facilitated deeper understanding of their experiences, helping them rebuild their sense of self and social esteem.
Intervention: Women’s Narratives from Refugee Camps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq