Beyond the Elements: 2012

As an April 10th UN deadline for a cease fire has come and gone, Syrians continue to flee the country across the Turkish boarder. For over a year, as neighborhoods in Syrian cities like Homs, Idlib and Latakia have been attacked by the forces of President Bashar al-Assad, residents have sought safe haven in Turkey from the bloodshed. Home for more than 23,000 refugees has become tent and container cities along the border in Reyhanli, Kilis, Bohsin, and farther north in Islahiye.

Some of the severely wounded have found refuge at hospitals in the Turkish city of Antakya, but only after sometimes harrowing journeys over the remote mountains. Some were carried by comrades across the border to safety, only then getting medical care for life threatening injuries.

With hostilities seemingly without solution, some Syrians are trying to carve out a normal life in and around the camps. A building has been rented in a suburb of Antakya and is now a school for Syrian children, run by Syrians who are just trying to normalize life for their children. Others find refuge in the simple pleasure on a crisp, sunny day, sipping coffee and spending time with their children, like the Wazzen family, who use an abandoned stable as a place to relax. Their carpentry business and home they left behind in Idlib, Syria, they say, is now occupied by Assad's forces.

Many of the Syrian refugees seem calm as they deal this desperate situation, but continue to worry about those still back home as fighting, although possibly halted for the moment, still threatens neighborhoods across the country.

Asking many what they hope for in the future and you find a common, simple answer; they just want to go home and live in peace.


Moorad Saleh, 3 months old, and born in a camp to Syrian parents Ismail Turky Sheikh Saleh and wife Jasmin, sleeps on a blanket in an unused stable near the Syrian refugee camp in Yayladagi, Turkey, just under a mile form the Syrian border. Moorad was born in the camp and the family goes to the stable as a place to enjoy time away from camp, using it as a spot to relax. April 4, 2012.

A Syrian child stands along a road near a camp run by the Turkish government that houses Syrian refugees near the town of Reyhanli, within a few hundred yards of Syria. April 3, 2012.

Camp at Reyhanli, Turkey. April 3, 2012.

Children wave a former Syrian flag, a symbol used in protest, at the Camp at Reyhanli, Turkey. April 3, 2012.

Unknown where it came from, a bullet pierced the windscreen of this car that was traveling towards Turkey in Syria near the border, slightly injuring the driver. Who or why the bullet was fired was unclear, but the bullet lodged inside the car's roof, Cilvegozu border crossing. April 3, 2012.

The Turkey (left) Syrian Border near Reyhanli, Turkey. April 3, 2012.

Holding prayer beads, a man who was shot four times while trying to rescue another person wounded on the street during government attacks in Idlib, Syria several weeks ago, lay in a hospital in Antakya, Turkey still healing only after leaving Syria illegally by getting a car ride up a mountain and then carried by four men across the border to Turkey. In Turkey for a number of weeks now, he went without treatment for a period time before making it to Turkey and getting medical care.April 4, 2012.

Recovering in Antakya, April 4, 2012.

Once a tobacco processing facility, a woman peers from a window of what is now a refugee camp in Yayladagi, Turkey, just under a mile form the Syrian border. April 4, 2012.

A Syrian woman and a child wait near a processing office after arriving at a refugee camp in Islahiye, Turkey, about 110 kilometers north of the Syrian border. April 6, 2012.


A tent filled refugee camp in Islahiye, Turkey, about 110 kilometers north of the Syrian border. April 6, 2012.

Syrian refugee children sing and dance during a music class at a school that was started by Syrians in Antakya. The building houses students of all ages is still being refurbished by Syrian adults who fled the violence from many parts of their country. April 4, 2012.

Syrian school, Antakya, Turkey. April 4, 2012.

Syrian refugees make the best of their situation not far from their tent camp in Bohsin, just several hundred feet from the Syrian border. April 5, 2012

Jasmin Saleh, who used to live in Latakia, Syria before fleeing the violence there, relaxes with her child Moorad, 3 months old, in an unused stable across a road from their Moorad from their refugee camp in Yayladagi, Turkey, just under a mile form the Syrian border. Moorad was born in the camp. April 4, 2012.

Camp in Yayladagi, Turkey April 4, 2012.

Syrian refugees arrive at a refugee camp in Islahiye, Turkey, about 110 kilometers north of the Syrian border. The Turkish government said today that 2,300 Syrians fled into Turkey in 24 hours, and have arrived at camps in different areas of the region April 6, 2012.

Syrian refugees at a refugees at the Islahiye, Turkey, camp about 110 kilometers north of the Syrian border April 6, 2012.


A popular activity with the children, a Syrian child holds up a peace sign at a Syrian refugee camp in Yayladagi, Turkey April 4, 2012.

Jay Snyder, father of Jackson James, left, and Reverie Vivian Snyder, lost his wife Michal in childbirth 3 1/2 months ago on Thanksgiving. With breast milk being Michal's primary choice of food for her children, the Manhattan father was left to uphold her wishes. With the generous aid of mothers in the area, breast milk has been continually donated so Snyder can provide the children's nutrition he and his wife discussed and planned before her death.
With the help of mothers, family and friends, like Snyder's sister in law Maitreya Rich of Los Angeles (in town to help Snyder with the children in photos during feeding ), he moves forward under difficult circumstances knowing at least this important component of his children's needs are being fulfilled.