Several border crossings with Turkey have been taken by the Syrian rebels, including this crossing to Kilis, Turkey. The Syrian rebels have their own passport stamp, flag, and redecorated the border as “Free Syria.”

This FSA border guard’s message to America: “We won’t forget that you forgot us.”

This little boy says he wants to fight Bashar like his older brothers who his family says are now rebel fighter. When asked what he wants to say to America, he responds, “I want to go home.”

Thousands of Syrians await safety in border camps inside Syria as Syria’s neighbors struggle to absorb nearly 2 million refugees. Following a rainy winter, makeshift tent camps were flooded in their own sewage, paving the way for the spread of infectious disease. “We don’t need sophisticated medicines here,” explains the camp’s doctor, a Syrian volunteer. “We need antibiotics for fungal infections, diarrhea -- that’s what the children are dying from.” (http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php)

Samer is a father of four who says he is ashamed that he could not afford passports for his family. He explains he grew up very poor in the countryside but moved his family to Aleppo for work where they lived a comfortable but humble life, “enough to be happy but not to travel or see the world.” He says he could never have expected this to happen to Syria. “Where is America? Do they know what is happening here?” he asks.

Thousands of Syrians await safety in border camps inside Syria as Syria’s neighbors struggle to absorb nearly 2 million refugees. Families struggle to grasp onto moments of normalcy, sanity, and dignity through their organizing despite the unspeakable conditions of their makeshift border camps. (http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php)

“I want Americans to know that I made a home like theirs in your movies. My home was beautiful, and it was a home for me and my children and my grandchildren. We left it in August [2012] with the shelling in Aleppo, and it was destroyed when we left. I don’t want to go back to see it because it will be too much to handle. But I want you to know that we built homes for our families like yours, we were not rich but it was a home, and living in this tent, giving you tea like this, I am so very humiliated. [she stops to cry] This is humiliating and no one should have to live like this.” - a Syrian grandmother from Aleppo reflects on her home and the dehumanizing realities of the border camps

Thousands of Syrians await safety in border camps inside Syria as Syria’s neighbors struggle to absorb nearly 2 million refugees. (http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php)

Thousands of Syrians await safety in border camps inside Syria as Syria’s neighbors struggle to absorb nearly 2 million refugees. (http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php)

This young rebel fighter shows off his weapon as he helps guard a makeshift border camp. His message to America: “thanks for all the help!” he says sarcastically. “We’ll remember who our friends are and who let Bashar massacre us.”

After interviewing these rebel guards, they tell me: “you are always welcome in Free Syria” and that their “homes are my home.”
“You are always welcome in my home in America too!” I respond. “Next we will come to America,” says one with a smile that turned to a stern face quickly... “With guns.”

Children wander the “sewage canyon” in a makeshift camp along the border with Turkey. According to the UN, children make up more than half of the Syrian refugees and IDPs. (http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php)

“I miss Ahmed. I want him back with us.” The parents of 5-year-old Ayman explain that one of his older brothers, Ahmed, was killed when his school was bombed by Assad airplanes in al-Bab, a northern rebel-controlled town where strikes on schools have emerged as a pattern.

The winter of 2012 was rough for the millions of displaced Syrians throughout the region. In this particular camp, thousands of Syrians trapped along the border awaiting refugee status in Turkey were flooded in their own filth by the heavy winter rains. Community organizers dug a ditch that has now become a little canyon to drain the sewage from the camp. The open river of waste weaves through the thousands of tents along the border. (http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php)

There’s no running water or electricity in the makeshift border camps that have become home to thousands of Syrians awaiting refugee status in neighboring countries. Nadia, age 8, and her little brother bring water back to their family’s tent from tanks provided by NGOs from the Gulf and the United Nations. When asked what she and her brother want to tell America, she responds, “We love you, and we study English!” She then recited all of the ABCs and asked if Mickey Mouse is “a mouse or a bear?”

“I want Americans to know that I cried about the 9/11 attacks. I wept, and so did so many Syrians for your tragedy. I want to know what Americans think about Syria, do they know about Syria? I want to know if Americans are weeping for us.” - a Syrian grandmother from Tarafat, a northern rebel-controlled village. Because of the conditions of the camp, her family is considering returning to Tarafat despite the threat of the ongoing aerial bombardments by the Assad regime.

The winter hit Syrian refugees harder than ever this year. Heavy rains flooded Syrian IDPs in their own sewage, and the lack of electricity and their tent homes combined to make a harrowing winter. Syrians began cutting down what was once groves of trees from neighboring property in hopes of burning a little wood for heat.

“I want Americans to know about my wife. She was a survivor. She had nine children and thirteen grandchildren. When I aged and couldn’t walk well, she took care of me. When our home was destroyed in Maree [a northern Syrian town now under rebel control], she was inside and still lived. My wife died in February here after waiting for four months on the border without clean water or any space of our own. She died from her diabetes because we couldn’t get her medicine here, even though we can see Turkey with our own eyes... That is what I want America to know about the Syrian Revolution.” -A Syrian grandfather remembers his wife who, like many Syrian refugees, died from disease or simple infection while waiting without the necessary aid in the squalor in these border camps.

Thousands of Syrians are trapped in internally displaced camps throughout the countryside and along the border. In this camp along the Turkish border, several thousands of Syrians await entry into Turkey as the Turkish government struggles to absorb more than 200,000 refugees. (http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php)

A child stands firm in front of his family’s tent, staring across the sewage lake on his back doorstep.

A group of young Syrian children begin chanting “U-S-A! U-S-A!” in a makeshift IDP camp -- a scene they saw in American movies.

These little cuties practiced their English that they learned in school. Haitam, the boy furthest to the right, wants to be a dentist so he says he is not eating candy these days. Together, these children sing the ABCs and yell “We love you!” until we’re out of earshot. According to UNICEF, one in every five school has been destroyed, damaged or converted into shelters for Syrians in danger. (http://www.unicefusa.org/assets/pdf/Syria-2-year-report.pdf)

The winter hit Syrian refugees harder than ever this year. Heavy rains flooded Syrian IDPs in their own sewage, and the lack of electricity and their tent homes combined to make a harrowing winter. Syrians began cutting down what was once groves of trees from neighboring property in hopes of burning a little wood for heat.

These little boys play soccer in these groves when they’re not trying to sell candy bars in the camps. Because of the harsh conditions of the camp, Syrians began cutting the nearby groves for firewood last winter. These boys say they want to come to America some day, and they ask why we call it “soccer” instead of “football” like everyone else in the world.

Kareen asks if I know Hannah Montana. She even knows a song from the television show that she sings for us. “Will you please tell Hannah Montana to come to see us in Syria?” she squeals. Kareen’s family has been waiting six months to get to safety according to her parents. They’re worried that she will soon hit puberty because some Syrian girls have been kidnapped into sex slavery since the conflict began.

Children wander the “sewage canyon” in a makeshift camp along the border with Turkey. According to the UN, children make up more than half of the Syrian refugees and IDPs. (http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php)

Children wander the “sewage canyon” in a makeshift camp along the border with Turkey. According to the UN, children make up more than half of the Syrian refugees and IDPs. (http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php)

“If the USA is so strong, why can’t they help us?” asks this 14-year-old Syrian boy. Of the nearly two million Syrian refugees, over half are children.

Mohammed, age 13, is now the man of the house. His father and brothers were killed when they were working at their family’s garage. His mother and his other brothers and sisters fled with his uncle’s family to this makeshift border camp when the violence started in Aleppo last summer. To Americans, he says “We welcome you to Free Syria, and we hope our country to be like yours some day.”

Amina’s message to America: “WE LOVE YOU!” before she gives an enormous bear hug for a little girl.

The winter of 2012 was rough for the millions of displaced Syrians throughout the region. In this particular camp, thousands of Syrians trapped along the border awaiting refugee status in Turkey were flooded in their own filth by the heavy winter rains. Community organizers dug a ditch that has now become a little canyon to drain the sewage from the camp. The open river of waste weaves through the thousands of tents along the border.

Thousands of Syrians await safety in border camps inside Syria as Syria’s neighbors struggle to absorb nearly 2 million refugees. Families struggle to grasp onto moments of normalcy, sanity, and dignity through their organizing despite the unspeakable conditions of their makeshift border camps. (http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php)

Two of Nasser’s older brothers are fighting with rebel-forces in Aleppo. He brags that they have killed Assad’s snipers but says that he misses playing soccer with them and that his mother cries because she is scared for them. “When will the US help us Free Syria?” he asks.

Lina started school this year but had to leave when the Assad regime started targeting schools in a neighboring town. Her parents were scared her school could be next, and, when shelling started in their town of Tarafat, their family fled to the border where they’ve been awaiting refugee status for four months. Her parents say they try to keep in touch with their friends from Tarafat but everyone is scattered between border camps, refugee camps, and cheap rentals in Turkey.
“I miss my friends, I miss Hima [a friend], I miss my teacher, and I miss my school,” says the six-year-old.

“Cheese!” they scream in English as the camera clicks. Hassan and his little sister miss their school in Aleppo. Although they go to the makeshift schools in tents with volunteer teachers in the camps, they say it’s not the same. “I’m good at science so my father says I will be a doctor some day. Then I will come help sick people in America,” says Hassan.

The winter hit Syrian refugees harder than ever this year. Heavy rains flooded Syrian IDPs in their own sewage, and the lack of electricity and their tent homes combined to make a harrowing winter. Syrians began cutting down what was once groves of trees from neighboring property in hopes of burning a little wood for heat.

Thousands of Syrians are trapped in internally displaced camps throughout the countryside and along the border. In this camp along the Turkish border, several thousands of Syrians await entry into Turkey as the Turkish government struggles to absorb more than 200,000 refugees. (http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php)

“I study English so I can be a translator and come to see the skyscrapers!” says 12-year-old Rajaa from Aleppo. She’s the oldest of 4 children, all currently living in the camp to escape from the violence of Aleppo.

Thousands of Syrians await safety in border camps inside Syria as Syria’s neighbors struggle to absorb nearly 2 million refugees. (http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php)

Bashaer Othman, 16, became the youngest mayor in the world when she took over the municipal offices of Allar in the West Banks last summer, as part of a youth empowerment program.