SYRIA’S LOST CHILDREN

EXCLUSIVE, SPECIAL FEES APPLY. Must Credit – Magnus Wennman/Rex Mandatory Credit: Photo by Must Credit – Magnus Wen/REX Shutterstock (2853832a) Abdullah, 5, sleeping outside a railway station in Belgrade, Serbia Magnus Wennman: Where the children Sleep – 27 Sep 2015 Abdullah has a blood disease. For the last two days he has been sleeping outside of the central station in Belgrade. He saw the killing of his sister in their home in Daraa. He is still in shock and has nightmares every night, says his mother. Abdullah is tired and is not healthy, but his mother does not have any money to buy medicine for him.

EXCLUSIVE, SPECIAL FEES APPLY. Must Credit – Magnus Wennman/Rex Mandatory Credit: Photo by Must Credit – Magnus Wen/REX Shutterstock (2853832v) Sham, 1, in Horgos, Serbia Magnus Wennman: Where the children Sleep – 27 Sep 2015 In the very front, just alongside the border between Serbia and Hungary by the 4-meter-high iron gate, Sham is laying in his mother’s arms. Just a few decimeters behind them is the Europe they so desperately are trying to reach. Only one day before the last refugees were allowed through and taken by train to Austria. But Sham and his mother arrived too late, along with thousands of other refugees who now wait outside the closed Hungarian border.

EXCLUSIVE, SPECIAL FEES APPLY. Must Credit – Magnus Wennman/Rex Mandatory Credit: Photo by Must Credit – Magnus Wen/REX Shutterstock (2853832u) Walaa, 5, in Dar-El-Ias Magnus Wennman: Where the children Sleep – 27 Sep 2015 Walaa, 5, wants to go home. She had her own room in Aleppo, she tells us. There, she never used to cry at bedtime. Here, in the refugee camp, she cries every night. Resting her head on the pillow is horrible, she says, because nighttime is horrible. That was when the attacks happened. By day, Walaa’s mother often builds a little house out of pillows, to teach her that they are nothing to be afraid of.

EXCLUSIVE, SPECIAL FEES APPLY. Must Credit – Magnus Wennman/Rex Mandatory Credit: Photo by Must Credit – Magnus Wen/REX Shutterstock (2853832t) Tamam, 5, in Azraq, Jordan Magnus Wennman: Where the children Sleep – 27 Sep 2015 Five-year-old Tamam is scared of her pillow. She cries every night at bedtime. The air raids on her hometown of Homs usually took place at night, and although she has been sleeping away from home for nearly two years now, she still doesn’t realize that her pillow is not the source of danger.

EXCLUSIVE, SPECIAL FEES APPLY. Must Credit – Magnus Wennman/Rex Mandatory Credit: Photo by Must Credit – Magnus Wen/REX Shutterstock (2853832q) Moyad, 5, in hospital in Amman, Jordan Magnus Wennman: Where the children Sleep – 27 Sep 2015 Moyad, 5, and his mother needed to buy flour to make a spinach pie. Hand in hand they were on their way to the market. They walked past a taxi in which someone had placed a bomb. Moyad’s mother died instantly. The boy, who has been airlifted to Jordan, has shrapnel lodged in his head, back and pelvis.

EXCLUSIVE, SPECIAL FEES APPLY. Must Credit – Magnus Wennman/Rex Mandatory Credit: Photo by Must Credit – Magnus Wen/REX Shutterstock (2853832p) Ralia, 7 and Rahaf, 13, sleeping on the street in Beirut Magnus Wennman: Where the children Sleep – 27 Sep 2015 Ralia, 7, and Rahaf, 13, live on the streets of Beirut. They are from Damascus, where a grenade killed their mother and brother. Along with their father they have been sleeping rough for a year. They huddle close together on their cardboard boxes. Rahaf says she is scared of ‘bad boys’ at which Ralia starts crying.

EXCLUSIVE, SPECIAL FEES APPLY. Must Credit – Magnus Wennman/Rex Mandatory Credit: Photo by Must Credit – Magnus Wen/REX Shutterstock (2853832o) Mohammed, 13, in hospital in Nizip, Turkey Magnus Wennman: Where the children Sleep – 27 Sep 2015 Mohammed, 13, loves houses. Back home in Aleppo he used to enjoy walking around the city looking at them. Now many of his favourite buildings are gone, blown to pieces. Lying in his hospital bed he wonders whether he will ever fulfill his dream of becoming an architect. “The strangest thing about war is that you get used to feeling scared. I wouldn’t have believed that”, says Mohammed.

EXCLUSIVE, SPECIAL FEES APPLY. Must Credit – Magnus Wennman/Rex Mandatory Credit: Photo by Must Credit – Magnus Wen/REX Shutterstock (2853832n) Lamar, 5, sleeping on the ground in Horgos, Serbia Magnus Wennman: Where the children Sleep – 27 Sep 2015 Back home in Baghdad the dolls, the toy train, and the ball are left; Lamar often talks about these items when home is mentioned. The bomb changed everything. The family was on its way to buy food when it was dropped close to their house. It was not possible to live there anymore, says Lamar’s grandmother, Sara. After two attempts to cross the sea from Turkey in a small, rubber boat they succeeded in coming here to Hungary’s closed border. Now Lamar sleeps on a blanket in the forest, scared, frozen, and sad.

EXCLUSIVE, SPECIAL FEES APPLY. Must Credit – Magnus Wennman/Rex Mandatory Credit: Photo by Must Credit – Magnus Wen/REX Shutterstock (2853832b) Abdul Karim, 17, sleeping in Omonoia Square in Athens, Greece Magnus Wennman: Where the children Sleep – 27 Sep 2015 Abdul Karim Addo has no money left. He bought a ferry ticket to Athens with his last euros. Now he spends the night in Omonoia Square, where hundreds of refugees are arriving every day. Here smugglers are making big money arranging false passports as well as bus and plane tickets to people in flight – but Abdul Karin is not going anywhere. He is able to borrow a telephone and call home to his mother in Syria, but he is not able to tell her how bad things are. “She cries and is scared for my sake and I don’t want to worry her more”. He unfolds his blanket in the middle of the square and curls up in the fetal position. “I dream of two things: to sleep in a bed again and to hug my younger sister”.