Since the Syrian war erupted in 2013, neighbouring Lebanon has become host to approximately one and half million refugees. This small Mediterranean country has the highest per capita concentration of refugees in the world. With endemic corruption and a failing economy, living conditions that were already challenging, have dramatically deteriorated for both Lebanese and refugees. As Lebanon is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, there is no official refugee policy and the majority of Syrians are without any legal status. Eighty percent live in extreme poverty and more than 50 percent of children have no access to formal education.
The following images were taken while on assignment with ASICS Right to Play, War Child (Holland and Lebanon) and UNICEF (Lebanon) from 2013 to 2018.
UNICEF Ambassador Lucy Liu meets with families taking shelter in an abandoned brick factory having fled the conflict in neighbouring Syria. Bekaa Valley , Lebanon, 2013.
Syrian children in a informal settlement camp on the outskirts of Saadnayel in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.
Photographed on assignment for UNICEF Lebanon, 2013.
Families displaced from Aleppo take shelter in empty garages on the outskirts of Tripoli.
Photographed on assignment for UNICEF Lebanon, 2013.
Razan, 10, lives with her mother, father and five siblings in a makeshift tent on the outskirts of Saadine, northern Lebanon, close to the Syrian border. Razan fled to Lebanon in 2013 from their home in Kafar Sijnah, Idlib province, after fighting intensified with daily rocket attacks and heavy shooting. Razan has been out of school for over two years.
Photographed for War Child Holland, 2015.
Razan’s parents and three of their children work on a farm where they rent a small plot. They share a tent with relatives; Razan’s aunt, uncle and five cousins. In Syria, the two families were dairy farmers and grew crops. Zeher, Razan’s father says that in Syria, they had led a comfortable life. Most of the inhabitants of their village worked in agriculture; there was a clinic and a school, everyone owned land, “people were rich in land".
Razan waters the plants in the small garden her parents made for her to keep her occupied. Her parents said that before the fighting Razan was a happy and confident child, a strong girl. Razan talks about a cat she had called Mishu and her three dolls. She misses her house, her grandparents and her best friend Hala who fled to Turkey with her family. Since leaving Syria, Razan has become withdrawn and reserved, she has nightmares and seems fragile. She remembers the sound of the bombing and rockets, and seeing destroyed houses in her village.
Razan with her mother, Khadija, and father, Zeher.
When asked what her wishes are for the future, Razan replies, "I want to be an engineer, to build my country." "I want safety and to live in peace".
Children play in a camp on the outskirts on Choutra in the Bekaa Valley.
Photographed on assignment for ASICS Right to Play, 2018.