Venetia Rainey
Five hundred Syrian children in camps plus 500 disposable cameras equals 500 raw snapshots into life as a refugee in Lebanon.
It’s a surprisingly simple equation for a photography project, but as the Syrian civil war grinds ever closer to its fifth year, the result is a humbling and moving reminder of those that continue to eke out an existence across Lebanon. It was highlights of these pictures that photography organization Zakira and UNICEF launched Thursday under the title Lahza 2 (Moment 2) at Hamra’s Madina Theater.
The exhibition will be held through Jan. 27.
“It’s intimate, it’s at night, or when their mother is preparing their food, things that we’re not usually a part of,” Salam Abdulmunem, UNICEF communications specialist, told The Daily Star. “That’s what you get to see in this exhibition.”
He gestured toward the walls’ photos: a family gathered round a fire, their hands outstretched to grab as much warmth as possible; a young child on a plastic swing, her feet dirty and bare, her face hidden; boys standing proudly next to a stern-looking snowman.
All the photos show the abysmal conditions of the camps – piles of garbage, mud everywhere, filthy streams, tents made of scraps – but alongside the misery and suffering, they also depict laughter, grins, mischief, smiles and playtime.
“For us it’s extraordinary, because we don’t always see their point of view,” he added. “We talk on behalf of them but sometimes we don’t give them a chance to say things.”
Over the course of the last year, volunteer organization Zakira (Arabic for memory) and UNICEF embarked on a mission to teach hundreds of Syrian children aged 7-12 living in 63 camps and informal settlements how to use a camera.
Zakira had previously done something similar with Palestinian children, but it was when they teamed up with UNICEF that the program became a sort of psychosocial activity that began with drawing and ended with photography.
“We see it as a way for them to start expressing themselves,” Abdulmunem said. “It is almost like a psychosocial activity, where you are sitting with them, slowly asking them, ‘How do you feel about things, what do you remember?’”
Standing among the jostling crowds, Baraa, a 10-year-old girl from near Aleppo, said she enjoyed the chance to take photos. “I was happy. They gave me a camera and taught me how to use it,” she said.
She looked up at her picture, a carefully composed snap of a girl cautiously peering out from behind a tear in a sheet of ripped fabric, the yellow of which dominates the rest of the frame. “It was fun.”
The launch of Lahza 2 also included a screening of a documentary about the project. In it, the children can be seen making a rectangle with their fingers to practice composition.
“The camera taught me the meaning of a fleeting moment,” remarked one in the film. “When I take a picture, I freeze that moment.”
“I want to take these pictures back and show my grandfather and friends in Syria,” said another. “I want to tell them that life in the camp is like a disease.”
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