Bourja el-Barajneh
Bourj el-Barajneh is a palestinian refugee camp in the city of Beirut, with 40,000 people living in less than one square quilometer site. After the crisis in Syria, many Syrian refugees moved to the camp too, dramatically increasing its population The conditions there are really bad, including often electrocution and collapsed buildings. And above all, the logical refusal of the inhabitants to consider that place a home, assuming their life there just like a transition, which too often is not the reality.
Fadia
Teacher
" This land, my sister, is a woman". Fadwa Tuqan, palestinian poet. She is Fadia. Director of the kindergarten, and the best example of the strength of palestinian women. Fighting for their rights and always welcoming you with smiles, wisdom and food. Palestinian she was, and still is...
Fidaa Ataya
Story teller
"kan ya ma kan"- There was or there was not... ( Traditional way of starting the fairy tales in the arabic countries). We want to introduce you Fidaa Ataya. She is a palestinian Hakawati, professional story teller. She travels around the palestinian territories to maintain the culture and bring joy. She started with Sophie the project of story telling in the camp. So we are very grateful to her too, and that was our way of showing it
Abo & Em Salehl
Nassef Falafel
The couple in the picture is famous for doing the best falafels around the camp. If you have to go there, everybody will recommend their place to eat. They live in a tiny, tiny house in a corner, full always with children, grandchildren, and neighbours, playing, singing and even recreating a plastic swimming pool in the hot summer months. Joy in the camp, somehow, manages always to appear.
Leila
oldest woman
" I will dance and resist and dance and persist and dance. This heartbeat is louder than death". Suheir Hammad, palestinian writer exiled in the USA. She is Leila, our dancing character, and the oldest person in the camp. Maybe the last person in the camp who was born in Palestine. It is complicated to define her, but we could say she is the complete joy for the people next to her: dancing, huging, kissing, smiling. And to create constantly this feeling is not so easy in the camp...
Abu Ashraf
Gardener
"If you are not rain, my love, be tree. Sated with fertility, be tree". Mahmud Darwish, palestinian poet. He is Aabu Ashraf. In a camp where the green is totally missing, he has been able to create an small oasis in the kindergarten, with trees, flowers, and water that he brings carefully.
