Palestinian children capture their camp life on film

By Weedah Hamzah Mar 15, 2007, 20:21 GMT

Beirut- Hundreds of Palestinian children living in camps across Lebanon might get the chance to become photographers and capture their ordeals and miserable living conditions on film.

Zakira, a local Lebanese cultural association which groups professional photographers, has launched a project called 'glimpse.' The aim of the project is to distribute 500 cameras among Palestinian children and encourage them to portray life in the camps as seen through their eyes.

'Children's lives in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon are especially harsh, cruel and crowded. To say the least, their living conditions are unhealthy, both physically and psychologically,' said photojournalist Ramzi Haidar, who is a founding member of the association.

'Those children live in rooms which have been added to existing buildings, mostly within the narrow alleyways between them, often blocking the sun. Raw sewage and filthy water in camp streets is a common sight. Palestinian children have to learn to adjust in this environment, for this place has become their home,' said Haidar.

Haidar and other members of the association believe that the cameras will become a powerful tool in the hands of the Palestinian children to reflect their miserable conditions to the world.

There are some 367,000 Palestinian refugees living in 12 camps across Lebanon. All of them are denied social rights, and they are only allowed to do cheap manual labour regardless of their education or skills.

'For people like me... I think this injustice has reflected on the Palestinian children, and through the cameras they will be able to express their fears and anger...,' Haidar said.

'After giving the children cameras, we will start giving them basic training and guidance. We will then ensure appropriate exposure for the children's work through organizing a number of exhibitions,' Elsee Hadad, another member of the group, said.

Hadad stressed that children between the ages of seven and 12 would be the main beneficiaries of this project.

'This age group has been chosen on the assumption that at this age, children will be able to understand what's been asked of them, and able to stay on track. At the same time, their innocence, spontaneity and truthfulness would remain uncompromised: A child would only be subject to its own feelings,' Hadad added.

The organizers believe that after six months the children will be able to learn how to use and understand cameras as a communication tool.

According to Zakira, the children were selected for their creativity. Members of the association tested them by giving them a piece of paper and asking them to draw anything they wanted. A committee of five then chose five hundred drawings to decide to whom the disposable cameras would be given.

'The children will be asked to photograph the world around them, documenting their daily lives in the camps,' Haidar said.

At the end of the six months, the children's work would then be filtered down to around one hundred images to be exhibited across the Middle East, Europe and North America.

These images would then be published in a book. Proceeds from the book and the exhibitions would go directly to the Palestinian children through the creation of a cultural project for these kids.

Haidar hopes that many young talents will be discovered through this project.