City edges

rugs at Borj Hamoud slum

better than a 'welcome' doormat

These were taken where Borj Hamoud meets the coastal highway just as you leave Beirut heading north. It’s a Christian area. A trail of battered Persian rugs makes for some kind of entrance to the cluster of low buildings, small enough to walk around in a few minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

unanswered questions

unanswered questions

 

Most are partly destroyed houses, with walls and roofs replaced by aluminium sheets or tarpaulin. Red question marks are painted on the walls. Elsewhere there are black crosses. I don’t know the history of this slum and why or how these people ended up here.

 

 

 

 

 

at home

at home

 

The washing lines are full of kids clothes and there’s a large paddling pool in a clearing which looks like a communal area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mayella's geraniums?

Mayella's geraniums?

 

A splash of colour in all the concrete.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

summertime partitions

summertime partitions

 

The living space of these homes will be drastically reduced when the rains come. Pegged up sheets won’t cut it and few of the roofs look even remotely watertight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

one man's junk is another man's livelihood

one man's junk is another man's livelihood

 

This looks like the main bartering yard for the neighbourhood. In an alley a man and a women were carefully sorting through a plastic bowl of lighters and other small finds from the dump. Necessity is the mother of recycling.

3 Responses to “City edges”

  1. Sar. says:

    That’s Sanjak camp, an Armenian refugee camp, established in 1939. Interesting pictures.

  2. william says:

    hello,
    just wondering, did you know that your blog is on some voting competition
    i know these kind of things lack credible but i think its nice that you are in the top 101 blogs in lebanon
    good luck
    (sorry i voted for my friend’s blog)

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