Refugee camp or housing?

A few days ago we visited the Ballata refugee camp in Nablus which was built between 1948 - 1951. The camp was meant to shelter a maximum of 5000 people which were forced to replace from the Israeli west coast to the now known Palestinian West Bank. Starting off we received a presentation on the development of the camp, little did we know about how it actually looked like.

One of Ballata's inhabitants told us that he and the rest of his family moved from Haifa to Ballata when he was a young boy. The now, grey haired man, told us that their moving was directed by the United Nations who promised it would be for a maximum of five years. It was just a temporary solution until all its 'new inhabitants'  would have a place to live and safely settle in their new country. As you all know: the rest is history! They were never allowed to go back, their homes were taken away, families were torn apart and were never again allowed to return to their soil.. Forced and punished to live in a refugee camp with 30.000 refugees who have dealt with the same destiny. Imagine how a 30.000 inhabited refugee camp must look like when it was built to shelter only 5000 people..

Exactly, it's a labyrinth of small houses, 30cm narrow allies with occasional lightening, garbage on many corners, children running everywhere and surprised to see foreigners, asking for pictures and where we're from. Smells. Some good and some bad, small windows, many doors, many voices, electricity cables on dangerous places. Because of this and many other reasons, people have psychological, physical and financial problems, little education, if any! Frequent Israeli presence and spread of fear in order to remain in control by forcing the acceptance of new laws, mostly in their disadvantage. Where can these people go now? Their homes and citizenship have been taken away from them. Just imagine that for one minute. One day you are sitting safely in your home and the other day your home is taken away, you are forced to leave your home, put in a refugee camp which has created the worse circumstances you can ever imagine and NO OTHER PLACE TO GO.

And then, there's light again. We are out of the labyrinth and at the entrance of the refugee camp again. The first thing that caught my attention was the United Nation's waving flag at the front door. It made me sick to imagine that this institution, a well-respected institution, has played a part in the creation of all this. And even worse, their flag waves to create the illusion that they're 'actually helping'. One can ask himself if the UN ever intended Ballata as a refugee camp or has always known it would be their new housing..

I admire the people who live at the refugee camp and still try to make the best of it. Develop a social center for youngsters in order to keep them 'entertained and educated' in this rough situation. I admire their will to develop good from bad, work hard every day without knowing if their situation will ever change. In my eyes they're true heroes!