Design to Live Everyday Inventions from a Refugee Camp 2021 MIT Press Edited by Azra Aksamija, Raafat Majzoub, and Melina Philippou
Preface
"The existential threats of climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the rising numbers of forcibly displaced people make visible a new reality of social, political, and economic inequalities that is impossible to ignore. As an increasing number of people are forced to move and adapt to unexpected life scenarios, they have to find strength, inspiration, and hope in moments and in places where it seems so easy to surrender to hopelessness.
Glimpses of our shared future may well be found in the present day living situations of displaced people. Shouldered by hope, Syrians fleeing from conflict and crisis find their way across borders into processing centers and camps. Ninety kilometers from the Syria- Jordon border, a two hour drive from the capital of Amman, almost 40,ooo Syyrian refugees found their shelter in the Azraq Refugee Camp. It is a centrally planned, closed camp both to address the basic needs of displaced Syrians . Deep in the Eastern Desert, the camp appears from a distance as an endless grid of white containers, bordered by an infinite fence and surrounded by nothing but sand. The barren landscape extends to the horizon as evidence of these hostile living conditions with temperatures reaching 118 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer.
Among the 15 other refugee camps in Jordon, Azraq is the most representative example of institutional humanitarian infrastructure . It constitutes what the humanitarian field considers an advancement in governance, security, and design. In conversations with camp and NGO officials, Azraq was often referred to as a model camp for the region, designed to avoid the looser, more incremental developmental approach seen at other camps, such as Za'atari just a few kilometers away. This tightening is evident in local regulations that seep into the daily lives of the residents, from forbidding permanent structures and plantation to limiting customizations of inner spaces.
Such austere environment, one produced by standardization-driven engineering, encourages conformity, disengagement, and despair. This is precisely why we were all the more inspired by the optimistic young people we met in this camp: teenagers who follow their own path to overcome the difficulties of displacement with bravery and creativity. Jar for instance, feeling that schoolwork was futile, dropped out; but he could teach you how to turn the white metal shelters of the camp into something closer to a home with one of his many creations, like a portable fountain. His friend Wael focused on the camp's Taekwondo program; he will be contending for the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games. Rawan invented a washing machine out of plastic buckets, hoping to help hundreds of people wash their clothes amid water scarcity and unbearable heat. Hanaa wrote her life scenario outside the norms and expectations of her peers by focusing on art and writing courses in pursuit of higher education . Mohammad is the youngest leader of his community. He initiated the first refugee led camp journal, a platform for residents to express themselves and to be heard. A monument to the destroyed heritage of Syria, Abo Ali's mud version of the famous Palmyra Arch reminds people where they came from To provide hospitality for his guests, Jar's father made an elaborate coffeeset using food cans decorated with carved date pits. To alleviate the sheer tedium that befalls a population deprived of work, another artist carved chess figurines out of a wooden broomstick. Jar, Wael, Rawan, Hanaa, Mohammad, Abo Ali and other residents at the camp show us the practical and profound ways in which they pursue human and humane lives. Their inventions and actions tell stories about the strength in people whose quality of life has been pushed near degree zero."
it goes on. I see in the cover page, as i do, i noted the date i got it...12-2021. For a long time it's been out in the bin of Evacuation Things in the vehicle. I remember thinking ....who knows? Its a strange and very BeautyFULL book.
