In pictures: Life goes on amid suffering of Beirut’s Shatila refugee camp

Life in the Palestinian refugee camp is extremely tough but its residents are incredibly resilient – most of all its children. Some are pictured here in one of the classrooms of the camp’s Children and Youth Centre (CYC) on December 8, 2015. Courtesy Tomas Jivanda

“What has made [life in the camp] more tragic or difficult, more miserable, has been the Syrian war,” says Abu Moujahed, director of the CYC and longtime resident of Shatila, whose name is known by practically everyone in the camp. December 8, 2015. Laura Mackenzie for The National

In Shatila, tens of thousands of people are confined to an area less than 1 square kilometre in size. One of the only open spaces in the camp is a dirt yard outside the CYC. At the bottom of the photo it is just possible to make out children playing football in the yard with a rusty metal wood burner. December 8, 2015. Courtesy Tomas Jivanda

With Shatila’s two schools severely overcrowded, children from the camp in southern Beirut, Lebanon attend extra study sessions at the CYC, an NGO set up in 1997 to provide education and recreational activities for six to 18-year-olds. December 8, 2015. Courtesy Tomas Jivanda

The CYC was established in Shatila in 1997. It provides education and recreational activities for six to 18-year-olds in a place where there are few opportunities for children to just be children. December 8, 2015. Tomas Jivanda