COMFORT WOMEN - LOLA MARIA

 “FROM WAR, WITH LOVE”
The WWII Comfort Women series
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
LOLA MARIA is the president of Malaya Lolas (formed to fight for the recognition of comfort women in WWII). 

As soon as I set foot on her front porch, she sat me down and launched into stories of unimaginable tortures that she witnessed and suffered.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
“I witnessed every single man I loved sadistically tortured and murdered in front of my eyes as we were all marched to the school playground.” She recounted.
“And having just turned 9, I was taken along with my sisters and the women in my village to the Red House to be comfort women to the Japanese army.
I was just a child.”
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
My heart shuddered in pain as I listened.
What she continued to say though struck my heart even more.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
“I am not sure if we will ever see justice. But it’s ok - I’m not fighting for myself. I just want the world to remember how evil war is. I don’t want anyone to experience what I did.”
She then looked me in the eye and said: “I’m not looking for a final verdict on earth, because I trust in God’s ultimate justice and His plan for us. We are nothing without Him.”
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The power of what she said shook me so much I started crying. After everything she has experienced, not only did she not question where God was, her faith is so rooted that she is able to surrender everything over the years. 
That - is the healing.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
At the end, she insisted on doing a little dance for me in her favourite dress.
The beauty I encountered on that day - is far beyond anything I could’ve imagined.

Photography is just a tool.
Finding and sharing the beauty, faith and power that in our core we can all access, even amidst a world of suffering - is the ultimate gift.

#jadapoonphotography #philippines #worldwartwostories #comfortwomen #hongkongportraitphotographer #womeninasia #womenempowerment #faith