The Camp

I've spent the last 2 days in Za'atari refugee camp doing the photographs for a friend who's writing a feature about the women and children there. There are so many images that say so much, but for me this one is like the first paragraph of something I hope to continue tomorrow or the next day when I  come back to spend more than a few awake hours in the flat. These young men are pushing wheelbarrows which should normally be used for transporting rubbish, to take candy floss (which they've made in the camp) to sell to children. Za'atari was established last July, and has already turned into a fairly efficient town thanks to Syrian creativity and canniness. But in the background you can see the heavily armoured vehicle ready for big trouble, which camp workers have been expecting for weeks. I will explain all about the extraordinary people I've met inside - from the 'Mayor of Za'atari' who has been brought in by UNHCR from the camps in Somalia, to sort out this one, to courageous Jordanian women, some of whom have worked solidly for 90 days without a break, to resilient female refugees who talk openly about what it is to live in this newly established temporary town of over 10,000 people, spreading over a barren patch of land on the Jordan/Syria border.