Life inside a Palestinian camp in Beirut, where hope is the only strength

Noura, her son, Ahmad, and daughter, Rawan, tell their story of illness, hope and struggle inside Bourj el Brajneh, a Palestinian camp in Beirut.

 In order to reach Ahmad and Rawan’s house, one needs to pass the tight labyrinths and corridors in Bourj el Brajneh camp in Beirut. There, houses are built side-by-side. They are randomly constructed and their concrete walls invade all views. 

In the streets, filled with waste water, one must walk and walk. Only the camps inhabitants know their way, even in the middle of the night, even when there is no light or electricity at all. Outsiders would be easily lost. 

Ahmad moves around a lot. He is 12, thin and pale. Despite the Thalassemia disease, a blood disorder, and the Congenital Heart Disease he suffers from, Ahmad is energetic and great in school. “Do you want to see the grade I have got on my last mathematics test?” he asks while proudly displaying the evidence that he received 14.5 out 15. This was the first thing he showed guests at his house in Bourj el Brajneh camp. 

Rawan, Ahmad’s sister, is 9 years old.  They study in the same class at school. She too has Thalassemia disease, but her condition is not as severe as his. Ahmad was hospitalized for long periods of time, and thus failed many classes and became Rawan’s classmate. 

“My children have to take medicines all the time; they have inherited Thalassemia disease from me. I take medicines all the time too,” said Noura, 35, their mother with a bitter smile on her face. 

Besides their health problems, Rawan and Ahmad have both endured educational struggles as well. Partly because of his health condition, Ahmad failed his classes several times and thus needed enhancement for his educational level. To help children like Rawan and Ahmad and many other Palestinian students who are below the average and need help, World Vision started the Education and Life Skills Project in Bourj el Brajneh camp a few months ago.

“The project targets Children with learning difficulties in the camp and aims to help them enjoy a supportive learning environment. It focuses on the Mathematics level as well as their English and Arabic languages skills, so that they achieve better results at school,” said Camil Adam, the project manager. “Although Palestinian children are able to access the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) schools, many of them would need assistance to excel in their studies. And, we are already starting to notice improvement in the students’ grades, such as Ahmad and Rawan’s case.”

Noura has been married for 14 years. For her, marriage life has not been easy at all. Ten years ago, her husband fell off a building where he used to work. “My husband was a master in installing tiles. Since he fell, he has been epileptic and his body structure is weak to the extent that he can barely carry a tissue or a napkin in hand,” she says.

  “These days, my husband works in collecting iron and steel, and selling them. Effectively, I do the work, since he cannot really carry them. I do what I can to make a living,” she says, pointing out at an old TV device placed in the corner, along with old iron items, waiting for the trader to come to collect them. 

“Ahmad needs to visit the doctor for check-ups every four months, but we cannot always afford that,” adds Noura. “We pay $100 dollars for every visit, and no one gives us any assistance in this. We have no insurance coverage, even the UNRWA does not cover the costs of the visits to the doctor or the cost of the medicines cost.”

Nevertheless, Noura has always struggled to survive, despite her difficult conditions. When an opportunity to work is available, she seizes it without any hesitation. “I clean houses when asked to. Even if I don’t like this job, I need to earn a living,” she says, noting that she has been helping in cleaning the centre of education and life skills in Bourj el Brajneh camp for few months. 

Noura, like lots of Palestinians living in Lebanon since birth, never stopped dreaming about Palestine and still has great hopes for the future.

Thousands of Palestinians were expelled or fled Palestine starting 1948 because of the Israeli occupation or what is known as Naqba. They found refuge in Lebanon and other neighboring countries as well. Since then, Palestinians faced challenges of different natures and it is agreed that their situation in Lebanon at least was never a stable one. They were deprived of many rights such as the right to work in many professions and the right to own property. More than 240,000 Palestinian reside today in refugee camps located around the capital Beirut. Despite the fact that their years of residency in Lebanon has now been 64 years, but they were never granted the Lebanese nationality. Nevertheless, Palestinians have always showed their persistence to advocate for what they consider as longstanding right; the right to return to their homelands. 

Noura is one of many who know their homeland only through the stories of those older than themselves. “All I want to do is go to Palestine,” she says. “I don’t care about travelling abroad, visiting Palestine is the most important trip I could ever make,”, she says as she recalls the stories about Palestine told by her grandparents. 

The story of Ahmad, Rawan, Noura and her husband, is similar to many stories of people living inside the camp. They are deprived of the minimum necessities of life yet willing to and dreaming of returning to a country shattered by conflicts and constantly swinging between war and peace.