September 28, 2015 by IdealisticRebel

Life Inside Syrian Refugee Camps

Life inside Syrian refugee camps –

originally published, in part, in The Week by Lauren Hansen & Sarah Eberspacher.

[In March 2011], Syria began to be torn apart.

Syrians took to the streets, demanding democratic and economic reforms from the government of Bashar al-Assad. What they got instead was a civil war that has turned cities to dust, killed more than 100,000 people, and forced millions more to flee.

Jan. 9, 2013: A man stands on top of a water tank as clouds roll over the Al Zataari refugee camp in Mafraq, Jordan. | (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon)

For those who managed to escape — women and children, mainly, with whatever they could carry — some semblance of life continues in refugee camps throughout the region. Through grit, luck, or the help of others — and often a combination of all three — those displaced millions have sought to create moments of normalcy in the temporary rooms, mud-floored tents, and makeshift shelters they call home, waiting for the day their country stitches itself back together.

Here, a look at life for the millions of refugee-camp residents:

Aug. 12, 2012: Boys carry water for their family at Al Zataari, Mafraq. | (REUTERS/Ali Jarekji)

Sept. 2, 2013: A woman bathes her child at Domiz refugee camp in Dohuk, Iraq. | (REUTERS/ Haider Ala)

Feb. 15, 2014: A girl washes her family’s clothes at Bab Al-Hawa refugee camp near the Syria-Turkey border. | (REUTERS/Mouaz Al Omar)

Aug. 21, 2013: Women wait in line for food at Kawergosk refugee camp in Irbil, Iraq. | (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Dec. 11, 2012: A woman cooks food for her family outside their tent at Atmeh refugee camp in Atmeh, Syria. | (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

Dec. 23, 2013: Children attend classes at an unofficial camp near Amman, Jordan. A teacher-turned-refugee set up the makeshift school because the Jordanian schools are too far away. | (REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed)

March 2, 2014: A girl gets a snuggle and a smooch from a puppy at Kilis refugee camp in Kilis, Turkey. | (REUTERS/Nour Kelze)

Nov. 21, 2013: Children play on a makeshift swing at Harmanli refugee camp in Harmanli, Bulgaria. | (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)

Sept. 17, 2013: Children participate in taekwondo training at Zaatari refugee camp near Mafraq, Jordan. | (AP Photo/Bela Szandelszky)

March 25, 2013: Friends cut a young man’s hair at Bab Al-Salam camp near the Syria-Turkey border. | (REUTERS/Giath Taha)

Oct. 28, 2013: A family eats a meal inside their makeshift room in a mosque, which is being used as an unofficial refugee camp, in Shebaa, Lebanon. | (REUTERS/Jamal Saidi)

Sept. 2, 2013: A woman applies makeup to a soon-to-be bride at a makeshift beauty parlor in the Domiz refugee camp in Dohuk, Iraq. | (REUTERS/ Haider Ala)

May 6, 2013: An obstetrician holds a baby after delivery at a field hospital in Zaatari refugee camp near the Syrian border in Mafraq, Jordan. | (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon)

October 21, 2013 by IdealisticRebel

Worth Fighting For

Fighting for the world stops a lot of problems that we deal with every day. When we are just looking at our countries or even our communities, the scope to too narrow. What one country does for its people may be fantastic and yet for their neighbors in a neighboring country, it may cause many trials and tribulations. This is why it is important to think of Mother Earth as what she is; a cohesive planet rotating around the sun like the other planets are doing.

We take that simple knowledge which has worked very well for millions of years and we have divided Mother Earth. This piece goes to America. This part is Russia, this is Syria. Here is Germany, and Greenland is over here. No not there that is Iceland. Iceland belongs to us…no it is its own country. So as the millenniums and the centuries have passed we have divided and put together parts of Mother Earth over and over. Many great rulers have come and gone. They have done much to destroy Mother Earth with divisions and wars and slavery and jealousy and greed.

There is a flag flying over every inch of our planet and we watch our boundaries closely. Some will never get in and some will never leave. Our planet has a big job. It is what we stand on. It gives us a variety of fuels, and gem stones. Because we aren’t taking care of Mother Earth, there is much harsher weather coming. There are tornadoes, cyclones, hurricanes, blizzards, sandstorms. Is she trying to tell us something? I know we all couldn’t even agree on that. But remember, we human beings are responsible for this planet. She will take care of us if we take care of her. So when you look at a world globe, remember the flags are not the most important part. The most important part is that we have this beautiful planet to use, to enjoy and to love. Don’t forget to do that and Planet Earth will be here rotating on her axis for a very long time.