Shatila and Burj El Barajneh are long term refugee camps in Lebanon. The streets are more like alleyways that are draped with a snarled entanglement of electrical wires and water pipes. Children play and go to school under the canopy of these wires and pipes
The inhabitants of the camp live in small apartments stacked on top of each other, an arrangement which allows for very little privacy. The water from the taps is too salty to use for drinking and is the major cause of many skin irritations. There are several deaths annually from electrocution by the overhead wires.
The camps were set up in 1949 by the UNRWA. The first refugees in Shatlia had been displaced from their homeland. Now, their children still hope to someday return to their homeland.