Hello

I established The Refugee Archive while conducting my doctoral research at Georgetown University, focusing on female-headed households (FHH) at the intersection of narrative, policy, and livelihood. During a summer in Amman, Jordan, while studying Arabic and teaching English, I spent time with Syrian refugees and listened closely to a group of women whose lives were described by others but not by themselves.
 

The gap was not a lack of reports. UN and government sources consistently show that female-headed households (FHH) face high levels of economic and physical vulnerability while living in displacement. What I saw on the ground was what those reports could not fully capture: single motherhood in displacement or conflict settings was often treated as a problem to manage rather than as a reality to understand. Those misunderstandings shaped how women were judged within their communities and camps, and whether they were fully included in everyday life, much less in programming, protection, and policy decisions. 
 

There is still a lot we do not understand about single motherhood in displacement, especially in camp settings, conflict zones, and militia-controlled areas, where mothers are surviving while raising children without a husband or predominant male family member present. I'd argue that you cannot fully understand FHH mothers without learning about their "beginnings," backgrounds, beliefs, traits, and traditions, which shape present-day survival and reinforce their present circumstances. 

When programs do not reflect that reality, risks grow inside the household. Children can be stigmatized for an absent father, and they can internalize the idea that their mother’s status makes them “less than” or even, as I have been told, unsafe. That social judgment affects how families navigate daily life, how children perceive themselves as reflections of the environments they witness, and the support they can realistically access.
 

To preserve women’s stories in full, on their own terms, and to treat those stories as knowledge that can shape better policy and practice, not just testimony, is what the world needs now. I hope to graduate with my doctorate in 2027, and I hope to serve as a platform for mothers' voices who live in displacement around the world and feel lost, unseen, or unheard.