Yarmouk Palestinian camp, Syria - From the childrens viewfinder
By refocus project
5 Oct 2008
Over three weeks refocus project gave 10 children intensive photography training and provided them with digital cameras as a tool to document and communicate. The images documented life in the camp, their hopes, dreams and opinions. The photographs presented here were all chosen to be exhibited and captioned by the photographer and are just a few out of hundreds that were taken.
Yarmouk Camp, which is an "unofficial" camp, is home to the largest Palestine refugee community in Syria. Yarmouk resembles an urban quarter, and it looks very different from the other Palestine refugee concentrations in Syria.
Yarmouk was established in 1957 on an area of 2,110,000 square metres to accommodate refugees who were squatters. Over the years, the refugees have improved their shelters and added more rooms to them. Today, the camp is crowded with cement block homes and narrow streets, and is densely populated.
Many of the refugees in Yarmouk are professionals, working as doctors, engineers and civil servants. Others are employed as casual labourers and street vendors. Overall, living conditions in Yarmouk appear to be far better than those of the other Palestine refugee camps in Syria.
Please enjoy the images and that the children have chosen to share with you.
