The people who are building and managing it insist it’s a temporary, emergency shelter. The people living in it are turning it into an incredible array of proud neighbourhoods, busy commercial and retail centres, education precincts and, if love blooms and a wedding’s set, then one of the world’s most unlikely function centres as well. It’s called Zaatari. But to call it a camp would be to deny the incredible vibrancy and complexity of this community in the desert. Of course everyone wants to go home to Syria. But as they pray for their war-ravaged nation to settle and become safe again, this extraordinary city in the sand has become their home away from home.
