A Visit to a Refugee Camp
Maqdah has only one goal: to train the children of the Ain Al-Hilweh refugee camp to love their country and struggle to return to the land where they truly belong. Although he was born in this Lebanese camp, the camp leader considers Lebanon only a place from which to stage the ongoing fight to go "home." For the 39-year-old Palestinian guerilla fighter, there is only one home, Gabsiyeh, "the most beautiful village in the world," from which his family fled in 1948 when Israel declared itself a state. For camp refugees, the area of Palestine is still very much an actual homeland, this camp just a temporary setback. Speaking, Maqdah said, for all of the camp's residents, "Every time it rains on the roof here we remember Palestine, every time we show our identity cards we remember Palestine, every time we walk in the cramped streets we remember Palestine.all the difficulties we work through here remind us of Palestine-they can kill everything in our minds but dreams of Palestine." Maqdah is proud of his role, keeping the faith alive despite whatever compromises Arafat makes to "sell out" his people. As the peace talks near a resolution that would almost certainly leave refugees in Lebanon, camps like Ain Al-Halweh may become volatile. Most of the income generated in Ain Al-Hilweh comes from internal business, like construction, and workers earn only about $300 a month. The camp's population is squeezed into a one by one and a half-kilometer area. Graffiti provides the only color splattered across most walls; otherwise the streets are chalky white. Next Page Previous Page		USEFUL LINKS WHO ARE WE? CONTACT US FEATURE STORIES Caught in the cross fire: Is Beirut Ready for Tourism? Marriage: Lebanese Style Meet Lebanon's only Male Belly Dancer Beirut Blues Christians Looking for a Better Future The Woman Behind the Walls Back to Home Page