Saleh Kawas

The term "cozy little house" takes on a new meaning when you visit the Kawas home in the Old City of Jerusalem. The house has one bedroom, a bathroom, a small kitchen and a courtyard covered with tin which doubles as another room – as long as it’s not raining. So the seven sleep together, eat together, study together and play together – all in one room.

Thirty-eight year old Saleh was raised here and he and his family have been living here for 14 years. His brother still lives in a room added above the apartment, which he shared with their parents until their death.

The Kawas family, in their only bedroom.

Two of the seven, Carlos and Chris, are newborn twins born in October of 2005 and — luckily — fit nicely into their little cribs. Oldest daughter Niran, 13, and twelve-year-old Nariman are growing up and need their own bedroom. It’s hard for them to study with ten-year-old Nakaleh playing indoor basketball in the room.

At 31, Saleh’s brother would like to marry, but has no housing to offer a new wife, a problem shared by countless Palestinian young men. It is the custom that women will move into homes with their husbands when they marry, as Saleh’s two sisters have done.

The Kawas family's living room.

Sahar takes a philosophical approach to their predicament: while the quarters are crowded, because her family has lived there for so long they pay a low rent. If they wanted to rent anywhere else in Jerusalem it would run into hundreds of dollars which they cannot afford, she said.

Sahar is a full-time mother and until recently Saleh worked in maintenance for Augusta Victoria Hospital.

The Old City abounds with gangs and drugs and there are no parks or playgrounds nearby where she can take her children for an outing, she said, so they spend most of their time at home under her watchful eye.