Life through the eyes of a refugee: 500 children in Lebanon given cameras to document their plight

More than 1.2 million Syrian refugees have sought shelter in Lebanon - making it the country with the largest refugee population per capita in the world

Photographs taken by Syrian children in Lebanon have provided a remarkable insight into the country's refugee crisis.

A total of 500 children aged between seven and 12 years old, displaced from Syria and living as refugees in Lebanon, were given disposable cameras to document their lives.

The non-governmental organisation Zakira, or “memory” in Arabic, visited 63 locations across Lebanon between October 2013 and July 2014, giving the children in each area basic photographic skills and camera training.

The project, named “Lahza 2” and supported by Unicef, aimed to offer the children a form of "psychological support and catharsis through artistic expression".

“These photographs give us the extraordinary opportunity to see the lives of displaced children from the child’s view point,” said Unicef’s Representative Annamria Laurini.

“We should see through the eyes of refugee children how they see their lives, their troubles and their aspirations.”

“The images speak for themselves,” said Ramzi Haidar, founder of Zakira. ”Children have a genuine way of seeing the world, and that is why these photographs are so moving”.

As Syria reaches its fourth year of conflict, over 1,160,000 refugees have sought shelter in Lebanon, making it the country with the largest refugee population per capita in the world.

Nearly 620,000 of the displaced people in Lebanon are children.

Lebanon, a small country which had a population of just four million before the war broke in March 2011 in neighbouring Syria, has been overcome by its refugee crisis.

The government has not to set up formal camps like those in Turkey and Jordan, which provide refugees with plumbing, drinkable water, weather-proof shelters and regular electricity.

Rather, refugees are spread out in poor, rural neighbourhoods throughout the country dependent on handouts from aid organisations.

The World Food Programme announced this summer that a lack of funding had forced it to cut the value of its food vouchers for Syrian refugees in Lebanon in half, to £9 a month.

Only 30 per cent of Syrian refugee children in Lebanon are able to go to school.

The UN Refugee Agency said that Syrian refugees and the Lebanese in local communities most affected by the influx are “becoming increasingly vulnerable, despite the large-scale inter-agency response to date.”

“An effective display of international solidarity and support is vital for Lebanon," the agency added.

"Failing this, the country's capacity to respond and withstand the Syria crisis will be severely tested.”

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