Burj Barajneh

Burj Barajneh camp is located in the center of the Southern suburb of Beirut, a distance of two Km away from Beirut Rafik El Hariri International airport.

Burj Barajneh camp was established in 1950, the majority of the camp inhabitants originating from three villages in the vicinity of the city of Acre in Palestine: Tarshiha, Al Kanbri and Kuaikayt. They settled in this camp between the years 1950-1951 and constitute 80% of the population. The other 20% came from very small villages in addition to 8,000 people from Sha'ab, whom were evacuated from Baalbek to Burj Barajneh in 1961. This camp has a special characteristic; the population of each of the three Palestinian villages occupies a specific area of land in an attempt to replicate the layout of their original villages in Palestine, and they have their own quarters, streets and alleys named after the original villages and the inhabitants live their lives by old Palestinian traditions.

 
Population:

The population of the camp is 40,000
The number of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon is 28,000.
The number of Palestinian refugees from Syria is 4,000.
The number of other nationalities is 8,000. 

 

Bourj Al Barajneh, like other camps has been subjected to enormously tragic events, on top of poverty grossly sub-standard living conditions.

The area of the camp was never extended to meet its population growth, therefore due to the need of additional housing; people have been obliged to add several floors atop aging structures despite often unsound foundations. Currently the number of inhabitants is approximately 40,000 (17650 P.R.L/22350 P.R.S + Syrians + Lebanese + others) occupying 6,800 houses.

Electricity is available from five stations providing power to the five areas of the camp, in addition to four generators which pump water from the artesian wells. However, the electric cables are installed in a very dangerous way, over-hanging and crisscrossing like a spider's web with no maintenance provided to prevent accidents.

Utility water comes from thirteen artesian wells, but these provide salty, unclean water. In addition, the net covering the well is very old and receives no maintenance, a situation which has resulted in many health problems. Therefore drinking water must be purchased to avoid sickness, by people who can ill-afford it. Concerning the drinking water, the local popular committee has started working on this issue, but the work hasn’t been finished yet.

The economic situation in Burj Barajneh is as stark as in other camps. Inside, there are small shops, bakeries and modest apprentice workshops. The camp desperately needs to develop its housing, infrastructure and health conditions in addition to developing income generating projects.

Eight schools provide educational services for the students of Bourj Al Barajneh:

• four elementary schools working on a.m. shift (Jerusalem School is the only school for boys which has elementary and intermediate stages in the same timing) and only one elementary school which has double shifts (the a.m. shift is dedicated for P.R.L students and the p.m. shift is dedicated for P.R.S ones)

• Two intermediate schools, Jaloud for girls and Jerusalem for boys.

• Galilee secondary school serving all of Beirut