Children, by their nature, want spacious spaces, various activities, and many games, which is not available in most refugee camps in the Netherlands.
Life in a refugee camp is undoubtedly not comfortable, Obada Mohamed- an Egyptian computer programmer – spoke about staying at camps: “you are placed in shared housing units with other families, and you are allocated only one or two rooms depending on the number of your family members, but you share the rest of the housing unit, bathroom, and kitchen with other people who are strangers to you and for a long period that extends throughout your procedures, which reaches several years -as we explained in our previous report– which makes you and your family members feel uncomfortable. Especially in the presence of children”.
In our previous report, we spoke with several refugees who described their lives and the problems they face inside the camp. Among those problems were the difficulties their children face inside the camp, especially in the presence of very different nationalities and cultures, The problems that this creates between children affect the psychology of parents and children on both sides.
The lawyer Ali Salal – a Syrian refugee- spoke to us about the children living in camps: “Children are affected during their stay in refugee camps, especially as many refugee families with 4 or 5 children complain that the money assistance provided to them by the camp administration is only sufficient for their children’s basic needs of food and drink, so we find it difficult to provide clothes for our children and of course, we can not provide any good toys for our children”. So children may resort to finding their own activities even if they are very small.
Happiness may be in bringing a rainbow from heaven to earth in a balloon with children’s drawings
But in fact, the picture is not so black. In some camps, there are some weekly or monthly activities that the camp administration provides for children, such as some music, drawing, and sports activities.
Here in this album, we took pictures of some of the children who found some happiness for themselves in the refugee camps.
