Out of War

So a few weeks after I started working in Midland, I began this story about Jaafar who is a student from Baghdad, Iraq. He is here in the US as one of fifteen students part of the Iraqi student project and the only one in the area. I was interested in his life and how he quickly adapted to a way of life in the states, making friends extremely easily and quickly. Unfortunately, for kind of unknown reasons, he isn't comfortable being photographed anymore, just when the story was beginning to take shape. So here are the photographs I have. I was hoping to show his interaction with girls at house parties, two things that are non-existent in Iraq. Along with dancing with the opposite sex. We also talked about the lasting affects that the war has on his life. One of the big things I wanted to show was that he has been suffering/struggling with insomnia recently, something that hit full force when the war started. So, Jaafar is here for the next 4-5 years majoring in computer engineering. He's vowed to head back to Iraq when he's finished and help rebuild his country. Until then, he won't be able to see his friends or family back home because he was only granted a one-time entrance visa. His parents call him twice a day to see how he is.