"There is a special kind of resilience and beauty in those tucked-away spots of life. I want you all to see the true beauty of my suffering country. With my camera, I strive to empower, not victimize, the people in my images." ~ Amira Al-Sharif

An emotional collection of essays, Our Women on the Ground offered me a small insight into the lives of several Arab women who are journalists and photo-journalists. The women in this collection ranged in backgrounds and experiences, which served to offer a multitude of views on their experiences.

The common ground between these women being they are journalists who put themselves often on the front-line and into danger and they were working in a sphere, particularly in the Arab world that is dominated by men. And whilst this collection offers insights into the difficulties of being a female journalist in the Arab world, whether that is because of restrictions on women's access to public spaces or traditional preconceptions that journalism isn't women's work.

The most interesting and inspiring aspect of this book was the resilience of the women. Many of these women put themselves into great danger, they face police questioning, smuggled themselves across borders, faced harassment, put themselves into live war zones and more. This was often at detriment to personal and family relationships.

And beneath all of this, these women still spoke of love, of hope, of the connections and relationships they built with their informers and the individuals they reported on. The battle these journalists underwent to show the lives of the everyday women and children and the communities that continue to thrive and suffer as their countries battle through wars and civil wars.

It's difficult to unpick such a complex collection of essays to an individual level as each one helps to build the collection and offer a brief, but important insight into the experiences of the women who contribute. I think this is a must read for everybody.