A Syrian refugee makes his barbershop a haven in Jordan’s largest refugee camp

Samer Al Sees is one of roughly 12 million Syrians displaced since the Syrian Civil War broke out in 2011. He fled his home city of Daraa with his wife and young son after a bomb landed near their house. Although his new home – Jordan’s sprawling Zaatari Refugee Camp – is just 10 miles from the Syrian border, the uncertain existence in the camp seems an eternity from his life in Daraa, where he owned a barbershop and took pride in his garden. In this dusty, unwelcoming place, Samer and his fellow refugees strive for day-to-day normality and structure, often through the rhythms and routines of his makeshift barbershop, while dreaming of one day returning home.