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As an Arab female photographer, I have always found ample inspiration for my projects in personal experiences.
作为一名阿拉伯女性摄影师，我总是能从我的个人经历中为项目找到大量灵感。
The passion I developed for knowledge,
我对知识的热情，
which allowed me to break barriers towards a better life was the motivation for my project I Read I Write.
使得我能够跨越障碍，走向更美好的生活，这也是我做“我阅读，我书写”这一项目的动力。
Pushed by my own experience, as I was not allowed initially to pursue my higher education,
在我自身经历的推动下，最初我被禁止接受高等教育，
I decided to explore and document stories of other women who changed their lives through education,
于是我决定探究并记录其他女性通过教育改变人生的故事，
while exposing and questioning the barriers they face.
同时揭露并探寻她们所面对的障碍。
I covered a range of topics that concern women's education,
我涉及了一系列关于女性教育的话题，
keeping in mind the differences among Arab countries due to economic and social factors.
熟记着阿拉伯各国家间由于经济和社会因素而造成的差异。
These issues include female illiteracy, which is quite high in the region; educational reforms;
这些议题包括该地区高比率的女性文盲、教育改革、
programs for dropout students; and political activism among university students.
关于辍学学生的专案以及大学生中的政治激进主义。
As I started this work, it was not always easy to convince the women to participate.
我刚开始这项工作时，说服女性加入并不容易。
Only after explaining to them how their stories might influence other women's lives,
只有当我向她们解释她们的故事可能对其他女性的生活产生何种影响，
how they would become role models for their own community, did some agree.
她们将如何成为她们社区的行为榜样后，才得到一些认同。
Seeking a collaborative and reflexive approach, I asked them to write their own words and ideas on prints of their own images.
寻求一个合作和反思的角度，我请她们把自己的话和想法写在印有自己图像的画板上面。
Those images were then shared in some of the classrooms,
我将这些图像拿到一些教室分享，
and worked to inspire and motivate other women going through similar educations and situations.
激发和激励了其他经历相似教育和情形的妇女。
Aisha, a teacher from Yemen, wrote, "I sought education in order to be independent and to not count on men with everything."
Aisha，一位也门的老师，写道：“我寻求教育以求自立，不让人生全部依赖于男人。”
One of my first subjects was Umm El-Saad from Egypt.
我的首批访谈对象中的一位是来自埃及的Umm El-Saad。
When we first met, she was barely able to write her name.
我们第一次见面的时候，她几乎无法写下她自己的名字。
She was attending a nine-month literacy program run by a local NGO in the Cairo suburbs.
她当时正在参与为期九个月的文化培训课程，这课程由一个位于开罗郊区的本地非政府组织提供。
Months later, she was joking that her husband had threatened to pull her out of the classes,
数月后，她调侃道，她的丈夫曾威胁要将她赶出教室，
as he found out that his now literate wife was going through his phone text messages. Naughty Umm El-Saad.
因为他发现，一个识字的妻子会逐条查看他的手机短信。顽皮的Umm El-Saad。
Of course, that's not why Umm El-Saad joined the program.
当然，这不是她加入这个学习课程的原因。
I saw how she was longing to gain control over her simple daily routines,
我了解到她渴望掌控自己简单的日常生活，
small details that we take for granted, from counting money at the market to helping her kids in homework.
那些我们认为理所应当的小细节，从在市场购物数钱到帮助她的孩子完成家庭作业。
Despite her poverty and her community's mindset, which belittles women's education,
尽管她处于贫穷的条件、尽管她受困于其所在社区贬低轻视女性教育的思维模式，
Umm El-Saad, along with her Egyptian classmates, was eager to learn how to read and write.
Umm El-Saad与她的埃及同学们，还是渴望学习如何读书和写字。
In Tunisia, I met Asma, one of the four activist women I interviewed.
在突尼斯，我遇见Asma，她是我所访问的四位政治活动家之一。
The secular bioengineering student is quite active on social media.
这位普通的生物工程系学生在社群媒体上非常活跃。
Regarding her country, which treasured what has been called the Arab Spring,
她的国家对阿拉伯之春有很高评价，
she said, "I've always dreamt of discovering a new bacteria. Now, after the revolution, we have a new one every single day."
她说：“我一直期望能够发现一个新的细菌。现在，经历革命之后，我们每天都会发现一个。”
Asma was referring to the rise of religious fundamentalism in the region, which is another obstacle to women in particular.
Asma的隐喻，指的是当地盛行的宗教原教旨主义，对女性来说，这是一个障碍。
Out of all the women I met, Fayza from Yemen affected me the most.
在所有我遇见的女性里，来自也门的Fayza对我的影响最大。
Fayza was forced to drop out of school at the age of eight when she was married. That marriage lasted for a year.
Fayza在8岁时结婚，立即被强迫退学。那段婚姻只维持了一年。
At 14, she became the third wife of a 60-year-old man, and by the time she was 18, she was a divorced mother of three.
在14岁的时候，她成为了一位60岁老男人的第三任妻子，18岁的时候，她成了独自抚养三个孩子的离异母亲。
Despite her poverty, despite her social status as a divorcée in an ultra-conservative society,
虽然贫穷，虽然她处于一个极端保守的社会，有着离婚人士的社会地位，
and despite the opposition of her parents to her going back to school,
她却不顾父母亲的反对，重回学校，接受教育，
Fayza knew that her only way to control her life was through education.
Fayza知道，她能够掌握自己人生的唯一途径就是接受教育。
She is now 26. She received a grant from a local NGO to fund her business studies at the university.
这时她26岁。她从当地的非政府组织拿到赞助，用以支持她在大学念商科的费用。
Her goal is to find a job, rent a place to live in, and bring her kids back with her.
她的目标是找一份工作，租一个公寓，把她的孩子带回到自己身边抚养。
The Arab states are going through tremendous change, and the struggles women face are overwhelming.
阿拉伯社会正在经历剧烈的变化，女人面对压倒性的挣扎。
Just like the women I photographed, I had to overcome many barriers to becoming the photographer I am today,
就像我照片记录的这些女性，我跨越了很多障碍成为现在的我，一名摄影师，
many people along the way telling me what I can and cannot do.
一路走来，太多人告诉我什么该做，什么不该做。
Umm El-Saad, Asma and Fayza, and many women across the Arab world,
Umm El-Saad、Asma和Fayza，还有很多阿拉伯世界的女性，
show that it is possible to overcome barriers to education, which they know is the best means to a better future.
展示了跨越障碍接受教育的可能性，因为她们知道，教育最有可能给她们带来美好的未来。
And here I would like to end with a quote by Yasmine, one of the four activist women I interviewed in Tunisia.
我想用一句Yasmine的话来结束这场演说，Yasmine是我在突尼斯采访的四位积极分子之一。
Yasmine wrote, "Question your convictions. Be who you to want to be, not who they want you to be.
Yasmine写道：“询问你的信念。要成为自己，而不是成为别人心目中的自己。
Don't accept their enslavement, for your mother birthed you free." Thank you.
不要接受他们的奴役，因为你母亲赋予了你生命和自由。”谢谢。
