On a dusty road outside Reyhanlı there’s an unassuming house — an unfinished concrete structure, really — occupied by five Syrian families totaling 32 people, all of them forced to flee Bashar al-Assad’s campaign of indiscriminate bombing.
October 2, 2013
Four of the five families belong to the Sikeny clan from Ashrafieh in northern Aleppo. They barely have enough food and there’s no money for proper windows, doors and insulation in their unfinished shelter. With the looming threat of a harsh Turkish winter, the residents have bricked over the window openings, hoping to keep out the bitter cold.
Hamed, the father of these children, is currently unable to work. His brother Ahmed is in a hospital in Antakya, Turkey, suffering from abdominal cancer.
These refugees live within view of the Syrian border at the foot of the hills in the distance.
Malek al-Wasl presides over the fifth family living on the top floor. Once a blue-collar farm worker from Hama — then fully capable of supporting his growing family — he was compelled to leave his home and his way of life when Assad’s air force bombed his house and burned his fields.
The few unofficial schools for Syrian refugee children in Reyhanlı are underfunded and overcrowded. Aspiring students waiting to get in number in the thousands. Malek’s children have little else to do other than watch television and play in the dusty fields surrounding the house.
Despite such poverty, Malek still insists on entertaining guests. His wife even pulled out nice serving pieces that remarkably survived the exodus from Syria.