They were dusty, dirty and dull.
That’s how Carleton’s MJ student Priscilla Hwang described the refugee camps of Lebanon.
“But it was the smiles of the children that brightened up the camps,” said Hwang.
The bulk of Hwang’s summer was spent in the valleys of Lebanon where more than a million Syrians are taking refuge. She taught at a tent school with an NGO.
In this area of Lebanon, the Syrians had built makeshift camps in pockets of uninhabited land by paying rent. Because these camps are not run by the UNHCR, NGO workers had more freedom to move around, said Hwang. She was able to visit the various camps around the school where her students lived.
“My students would beg me to come home with them,” said Hwang.
It was on these after-school excursions that she photographed the children. They were eager to be photographed, competing with each other to be in the spotlight.
“They wanted attention,” she said. “They wanted someone to care.”
Often, Hwang would spend nights in the camps with Syrian families. They would share stories about their homeland, a mere thirty-minute drive away, where their homes were being torn apart.
Every morning, Hwang would wake up to the towering mountains that separated Lebanon and Syria.
View Hwang’s photo essay in Maclean’s
Friday, October 2, 2015 in Journalism News, News
Share: Twitter, Facebook