Explosions on the “Syrian Side” of the border were waking me up in the refugee tent I was sleeping. The war wasn’t stopped on new years night, too. Coalition drones were flying over us and hitting the targets. Freezing cold was not letting us think about what was happening there that much though. I finally woke up at around 5am to wait sunrise outside. Before the sunrise on east, the camp was lighted up by the explosions on the south, Kobane, where the war with ISIS was actively going on.

After 15-30 minutes of walking around, the silence of the camp was broke by the babies crying. Then kids started showing up and smiling from their tents to me. A woman invited me to have breakfast. As the sun was going up, kids were leaving their tents to go to toilets, bringing their own water in a jug with them. They were walking as groups, holding each-other’s hands. One kid, holding his grandmother’s hand and looking at me with a shy smile… It was his first morning in the camp and I haven’t witnessed any other human being with that much of excitement and happiness… I’ll never forget his eyes, which filled my eyes with tears that morning.

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