Where and how do refugee children sleep?
When Swedish photographer Magnus Vennman puts his five-year-old son to bed, he knows how important it is for a child to feel safe. After filming thousands of children fleeing the war in Syria, he learned how many babies go to bed in fear.
Since 2001, the rise of ISIS and the Syrian civil war have forced 10.6 million people to flee their homes. Many moved to Europe, others settled in refugee camps in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. Vennman visited these camps and took photographs for the Swedish edition of Aftonbladet.
“I was struck by the children, because they are not at all to blame,” Vennman says. The photographer also traveled to Serbia, Hungary and Greece as part of his Where the Children Sleep series. “They have lost hope. We must try very hard so that the child ceases to be a child and does not have fun.
(Total 11 photos)
1. Valaa, a five-year-old refugee, lives in a camp in Lebanon and cries every night. She is afraid to lie down on a pillow, because the war in Syria was going on at night. During the day, her mother builds pillow houses for the girl to show that they are not scary.
2. Nine-year-old Fatima lives in Norberg, Sweden. Every night she dreams that she falls off the boat. After living in a refugee camp in Lebanon for two years, Fatima and her family boarded a crowded boat in Libya. On deck, a dead baby was born to a woman and thrown overboard. Fatima saw everything. When the boat leaked, they were picked up by the Italian Coast Guard.
3. Moyad, 5 years old, sleeps in a hospital in Amman, Jordan. She and her mother were walking to a market in Syria when a bomb went off next to them. The mother died immediately. Moyad was taken to Jordan with shrapnel in his back.
4. Two-year-old Farah loves football. Her father makes her balls from scrap material. Every evening he hopes that tomorrow he will be able to get a real ball for his daughter.
5. Five-year-old Abdullah sleeps at the train station in Belgrade, Serbia. In Syria, he saw his sister killed. The boy has nightmares every night. Abdullah has a blood disorder, but his mother has no money for treatment.
6. Nine-year-old Shiraz lives in a refugee camp in Turkey. When she was three months old, doctors diagnosed her with polio. Then the war began. Her mother, Leyla, is still crying as she remembers carrying Shiraz across the border in a blanket. In the camp, Shiraz, who does not speak, lies in a wooden cradle around the clock.
7. 13-year-old Mohammed is in a hospital in Turkey. In Aleppo, he liked to walk and look at the houses. Now his beloved homes are in ruins. The boy dreams of becoming an architect. “The strangest thing about war is that you get used to the feeling of fear,” says Mohammed.
8. Six-year-old Ahmed sleeps on the ground in Horgosh, Serbia. On the way, Ahmed himself carries his bag. “He is a brave boy and only cries sometimes, in the evenings,” says Akhmed's uncle. He takes care of the boy - Ahmed's father was killed in Syria.
9. One and a half year old Amir was born a refugee. The mother believes that he was traumatized while still in her abdomen. They live in a tent in Lebanon and Amir has no toys. “He often laughs,” says the boy’s mother.
10. 17-year-old Abdul Karim sleeps on the street in Athens, Greece. He has no money - for the last he bought a ticket for the ferry. Sometimes he takes someone's phone and calls his mother in Syria, but he never reveals how bad things really are for him. He spreads a blanket in the middle of the square and sleeps in the fetal position. "I dream of two things: to sleep again in bed and hug my little sister."
11. One-year-old Mahdi sleeps in Horgosh, Serbia. He and his family cannot move to Hungary.