Image credit: Faith Ringgold.
Fatima’s story
The following words are from an original interview and have been transcribed and translated.
I started life alone. And in the midst of the displacement, I needed someone that… I needed love and affection. You know, a person that looks at you and likes you. Just how you are.
Instead, I felt alone in the relationship.
I never heard one sweet word from his mouth. But there was one time, and I’ll never forget it either. I was frustrated because I would go out and people would always tell me that I was beautiful, so I told him one day: “I can’t step out of the door without the whole world harassing me.”
And he turned to me, I will never forget this, and said “Well, you are a woman who has everything…”
I took those words and locked them in a box so tight, from fear that someone would open it and they would escape.
But I still don’t know if I loved him.
Editor’s Note: Love and War
Love and war bring out the best and worst in people.
When they intersect, the circumstances – always so exceptional – are seldom understood by those with no experience of it.
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