Australian documentary maker Sherine Salama takes us inside Za'atari refugee camp

SHERINE Salama is one of a few Aussies on the ground in one of the toughest places on earth. She is surrounded by 120,000 hopeless and desperate people.

SHE'S one of the few Aussies on the ground in one of the toughest refugee camps on the planet. What she has seen and experienced defies belief.

But journalist and filmmaker Sherine Salama has immersed herself in one of the world's most crowded refugee camps to provide an insight into a place no person would choose to go.

Welcome to Za'atari, hell on Earth, and a dusty and barren refugee camp located on the border of Syria and Jordan that few journalists, let alone foreigners, have dared to step inside until now.

Ms Salama has gained special access to the overcrowded camp with more than 120,000 inhabitants, as part of Exit Syria: Diaries from Za'atari.

The real-time interactive documentary, which begins today on SBS Online, takes people inside the desperate world of a camp at breaking point, where inhabitants have little other than the clothes on their backs and, for the lucky ones, each other.

Journalist and filmmaker Sherine Salama will spend a month inside the camp. Picture: Nik Lachajczak

Described as one of the worst humanitarian disasters of our time, Za'atari is part of the greatest refugee crisis the world has seen since World War II.

Speaking from the camp, Ms Salama told news.com.au of the tough conditions refugees endured.

"There are 25,000 shelters in the camp, 17,000 are caravans and 8000 tents. The refugees in the tents have a very difficult time in the winter," she said.

"The winter is extremely harsh in the desert-like environment and the families have a hard time preventing the rain and snow from saturating their tents and keeping warm. Up to five people (sometimes more) sleep in one tent."

Syrian children play in front of their tent at Za'atari refugee camp. Picture: Supplied/EPA

She said the main issue for refugees was that Syrians were not legally allowed to work once in Jordan, which meant many had to find other ways to make a living.

Many of the children also don't have the luxury of going to school as they have to pitch in and help their parents survive.

Over the next month the Aussie journalist will follow three refugees, highlighting their resourcefulness, ingenuity and extraordinary resilience inside the world's second largest refugee camp.

She meets 32-year-old divorcee Amira, who is eight months pregnant and likely to give birth inside the camp.

Amira is eight months pregnant and just waits at Za'atari for resettlement. Picture: Nik Lachajczak

Then there's Jum'a, a young family man and Syrian rebel who wants to go back across the border so he can continue fighting with the Free Syrian Army.

She also meets 13-year-old Khaled who lives in Za'atari with his mum and older brother.

The teenager is so desperate for money he helps smuggle stolen UNHCR goods out of the camp, a process called 'tahrib' which is illegal, but which police turn a blind eye to.

Ms Salama will bring these and other stories to the SBS website daily, relaying video material, photo galleries, audio and blog entries - all in real time.

In today's diary entry she writes: "I am here to meet the UNHCR chief on the ground, Kilian Kleinschmidt, a fifty-year-old feisty German whose reputation precedes him.

"We establish a good rapport almost immediately. He quickly tells me that that the camp is rife with criminals.

"He's a can-do man, a man of instinct. He calls himself the 'Mayor of Za'atari' and takes midnight walks to meet with the local 'mafia' leaders face-to-face. It's his very willingness to meet them on their own terms that has earned him the respect from the same criminals and the protection that he needs in order to safeguard his life."

SBS Chief Digital Officer Marshall Heald said the real-time daily diary used a range of multimedia formats that couldn't be produced for television.

Jum'a is both a family man and Syrian rebel. Picture: Nik Lachajczak

"It's especially timely for SBS to be providing Australian audiences with a unique opportunity to immerse themselves real-time in the daily lives of inhabitants of one of the harshest places in the world, to foster greater understanding of the issues and challenges they face," he said.

Her insightful documentary follows a UN warning last month that the refugee crisis currently flowing out of Syria "is the worst since the Rwandan genocide almost 20 years ago".

Since war erupted in Syria in 2011, more than 100,000 have been killed, sparking an exodus of refugees not seen in decades.

Millions of Syrians have been displaced, pouring into neighbouring countries to live in makeshift camps under conditions unimaginable to most Australians.

Agencies are struggling to cope with the sheer numbers continuing to gush over the border in their hundreds into camps or makeshift dwellings where water and food supplies are low and where sanitation systems are failing and disease and death are on the rise.

The Australian Government's recent announcement that it will settle just 500 of these refugees will make barely a drop in the ocean of refugees fleeing to safety.

For updates and to follow life inside the camp go to SBS.

Continue the conversation via Twitter @newscomauHQ | @DebKillalea | @SBS

The Za'atari refugees live in extremely tough conditions. Picture: AFP

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