"The Slums of Tripoli" was my first photojournalism story and the reason behind it was when I posted a photo on Facebook of a young girl selling napkins in Tripoli during the night. The photo went viral on Facebook with many people denying that she was a Libyan- even though her nationality wasn't the main focus of the photograph. An activist contacted me and asked me if I would like to visit the Old City and document the dire living conditions of many Libyans and help shed a light to this unspoken issue in Tripoli's heart.
Tripoli's Old City (Madina) was neglected by Gaddafi's regime with most of it ruined and falling apart. After the regime fell, it faced even worse circumstances. Historical buildings either collapsed or were demolished to make room to build new living spaces. Poverty, drugs and socially neglected families such as Libyan women who married to non libyans lived in the Old City as well as Libyan families who fled their homes during the revolution. Children live in very poor and dangerous environment that needed to be highlighted to the Libyan society that was clueless of how terrible the reality for these children and families was.
I published this story and managed to get the attention of people but not the government. Therefore, due to the fact that this was an urgent situation I started a campaign which was called "Save the Old City Campaign" where many local NGO's got involved which resulted in more NGOs and volunteers shed a light on this issue and bring awareness to the public about it.