JABAL EL-HUSSEIN REFUGEE CAMP

Jabal el-Hussein camp is one of four camps established after l948 to accommodate Palestine refugees who left Palestine as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

The camp was set up in l952 for 8,000 refugees on an area of 421,000 square metres north west of Amman. The refugees replaced the original tents with more durable shelters and UNRWA provided asbestos roofing. The camp has since grown into an urban-like quarter and has become part of Amman.

UNRWA provides education, health and relief and social services through 12 installations operated by 159 UNRWA staff.

FACTS AND FIGURES

• There are 29,529 registered refugees;

• UNRWA runs 4 schools for 2,635 enrolled pupils in 2006/2007, with a teaching staff of 93. The Agency also runs 10 schools in neighbouring Jabal Nuzha for 7,695 enrolled pupils, with a teaching staff of 250. All the schools operate on double shifts;

• The Agency's health centre is run by 5 doctors, two part-time specialists, 2 dentists and 28 nurses and assistants for about 900 patients daily;

• 1,363 refugees receive assistance through the Agency's special hardship case programme;

• There is one women's programme centre run by local women's committee which offer training courses in sewing, hairdressing, computers, internet, physical fitness, English language, legal consultancy and handicrafts. UNRWA provides financial and technical support. Some 1500 refugee women benefit from these activities every year and a kindergarten, attached to one of the centres, provides day care facilities for about 115 children. Refugee women can also receive legal consultancy services from a Legal Advice Bureau, which is run by volunteers and a female lawyer and is supported by UNRWA. A food production unit was started in the camp by women in 1994 as an income generation project.