by Paul Salopek
Refugee camp, Kilis, Turkey, 36°38'50" N, 37°05'03" E
The Syrians pass their days and nights in shipping containers arrayed in rows atop what used to be farm fields on the Turkish border.
It is a model refugee camp, Kilis.
There are schools. A modern supermarket offers government-funded debit cards to the camp residents. A refugee souk bustles with barbershops, teashops, a songbird shop. The living containers are clean and come equipped with televisions. And the pathways between them are paved. Humanitarian experts from many countries have trooped through Kilis. All are stunned, impressed—by the amenities, by the generosity of the Turks.
Yet more than three years after the first group of 252 exhausted refugees straggled across the frontier from Syria, Kilis has become a symbol of a problem, not a solution.
Today, the camp is bursting at the seams. It shelters more than 14,000 people—a fraction of the estimated 1.3 million refugees who have sought sanctuary from war. Turkey has spent billions on housing and feeding its displaced neighbors. It thought the civil war against the dictator Assad would be short; that Syria would be repopulated by returnees eternally grateful to Turkey. But the war continues. The welcome wears thin. Anti-Syrian protests are bubbling in Turkish cities. And still the refugees come: During the past week, another 160,000 displaced people, this time ethnic Kurds scattered by Islamic militia, have come staggering across the frontier. With a new U.S.-led bombing campaign under way against the Islamists, this human torrent will not stop.
“We wait,” says Mohammed Nassuh, a Syrian ex-colonel living at the Kilis camp for a year with his family. “Eating. Sleeping. Watching time pass. I will do anything. I will work as a janitor. I will go anywhere. This is not a life.”
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The lucky ones: Children displaced by the civil war in Syria sing their national anthem in a refugee school operated by the Turkish government. After more than three years of fighting, the the cost of such facilities is no longer sustainable. Kilis camp, Turkey.
Videographer: Paul Salopek. Producer: Adam Jabari Jefferson
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I choose this sentence because it telling me that this picture is showing me how the people live and how much things do they have in their house. Also they left there home because like of some hurricane of real hard snow made the house fall and maybe they don’t have enough food and clothes to live in their home
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even though this drawing isn’t high quallity, it still is very graphic, and vivid in emotional detail.
i would like to know more about the man hanging by the tank, and the man watching
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I think this is a really sad picture.The kid who drew it went through some bad experiences, and is probably traumatized by what he has seen. The conditions that these refugees have to live in are bad, and not up to America’s living standards, but they are better than being exposed to the horrible things going on in Syria. I think turkey should get some help taking care of all the refugees!
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The refugee camps shelter those who seek sanctuary from the war, but sadly not all are sheltered. The camp is bursting practically because of how full it is but it only shelters 14,000 people, which is only a small portion of the million of other refugees. It is so sad that this is happening to many innocent civilians and also many innocent children who had been displaced by the war. It is a lucky thing though that some of these displaced children can seek refugee at the Refugee camps, but not all are lucky enough to find shelter. This is so terribly discouraging and I hate to think that these people are so vulnerable. I wish I could help.
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This is really bad because this is what little kids have to see when they wake up and go outside.
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This is torture and I want to know how do these children survive this. Obviously they are being held captive in syria abandoned. By what this pitcure shows i can sense danger.
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why is there a guy hanging him self?
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another comment i have about this picture is why the kids is hanging them slef also why the kids is hanging on the tank
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one more comment i have is in this picture is showing me how they live and what they do in they house also they left there home because like of some hurricane of real hard sown made the house fall down also i think they have no food or clothes
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I title says it all. The title says they have struggled. The title also say a lot about them. By the title i already new they had violists they was poor they don’t like the life they living. By the title i already new they dont wanna keep on living the life they living.
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The picture is related to the Title it shows why people said this is not life and felt like giving up. The picture shows a person hanging from a string.
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211323
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This picture may not be very good but it tells a lot i feel bad for the little boy or girl that drew that picture but that’s what his country deserves for doing what they did and maybe that will show him/her to do better in life when he grows up then what some of the adults are teaching him/her what to do now
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I wonder what happen after that photo he draw
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It look sad because a little girl is going throw so much and can’t even go home . You have to feel how they or feeling she can’t never go home because they or bombing her then she going to have nightmares about somebody hanging off a tank.
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I think they should put a stop to this because it really getting out of hand.
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why do kids see things like this to make some art like this but why is there a guy hanging from the hole of the tank why is there people on top of the buildings and it like they droping bombs off to try to stop the tank
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But was all this really necessary couldn’t they have build shelter or like find shelter or the only close by shelter was those shipping containers .
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The Syrians had to do what they had to do in order to survive longer. Sometimes they might feel too weak to even move around because in order to survive you are going to need food & water to keep your body energetic.
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i dont reaally understand the story but it looks like if they going to war
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i can tell by reading this sentence that this article is going to be about syrians.
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By definition a refugee camp is a terrible place. A model refugee camp is like the best prison that you could have. No matter what you don’t want to be there.
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I’ve never heard of them before. I wonder what it’s like to live in one. But I don’t want to end up tha way.
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I think this would be generous and helpful in many ways for other countries. That still doesn’t come before the fact that Syria needs help.Would it be possible for refugees to come to their senses and help Syria for better of for worse.
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The camp residents are given most things necessary to live. There is a supermarket and funded debit cards to help residents. The area is clean and includes amenities such as barbershops and teashops. The Turks are very generous to help these refugees and supply them with so much.
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It is very interesting to me that even though it is not the best place to live the conditions are still very impressive. In this refugee camp they have everything that a normal town would, it even has government-funded debit cards. It is kinda cool how they used shipping containers to be used as the living areas.
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Well I would like to live their but the thing about it I don’t like people telling me what to do.
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one comment i have is there school where they at but they not going to school they rather hang they self then go to school
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Is it a really big camp? it has everything a city has.
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I found this passage in the article interesting because I usually think of refugee camps as areas where people are stuck—they cannot go home. However, this type of camp seems to be fairly similar to my own hometown. I wondering if the people who are living here miss home.
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i feel sad like imagne going though a war seeing things watching other people get hurt.
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this is ver nice for them to do that
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I think this sentence is a good statement because it trying to say that thing are clean and televisions come with equipped and could fit throw the house.
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This is cool it states that their living containers come equipped with televisions and other supportive things i would’ve been happy because it the televisions i would’ve watched TV so that i can get my mind off of such horrible things.
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I would like to help them i feel bad for them because tey got no one to help them.
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I would like to help them i feel bad for them
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this is sad paragraph because do people care about them.do they people stand out for them or they just look at them suffer.do they have enough food to survive and do they have money to take care of their family and kids.
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they should feel good about themselves they are generous.
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Syria kills is a symbol and a problem now and more people llose they homes
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I think that was so exhusting for them to straggle across the frontier from syria.
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If I could do something I would try my best to help them eat a meal every day. OMG! I can only IMAGINE! Not eating for a week or two or even more. That is a really painful life.
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The man is explaining to some one the he is living poor and doesn’t have that much stuff to live with in his home like a lot of people doesn’t have that much stuff to live with
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i would want to go to another neighborhood i would feel upset because i still would feel u uncomfortable
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because the lady look scare like something happen like she looking for god with her head down ????
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Where are all of the people going to go? I feel bad for all of the people who are losing everything they own. How do they accommodate all of the people coming to the refugee camps?
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Well only if I was rich I would help them. I think that rich people should help them.
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so it is really cool home they had over 1.3 million people to be there in the camp
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Its crazy because people don’t have no space so its really bad 1.3 million lose they houses
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I think that its really sad that 1.3 million people lost their houses & especially the parents that has their babies & kids.
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i see that they are really stress out
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it sad because they dont have they homes & bing in the streest is really bad they could get kill 7 stuff
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I feel this is heartbreaking because this what they have to go through in order to have somewhere to live, i dont want turkry to spend all their money because then what if they need housing for their country turkey.
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It says Turkey spent billions on houses thats a lot of people that don’t have a house
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i think about this picture that is really sad bcausee they dont got job or money to eat or feeds they kids
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this people are the terrorist that are going to end this world
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It makes me sad to think of the thousands of people like Mohammed Nassuh who are displaced at refugee camps just like these. He is right when he says that “this is not a life.” Nobody deserves to live like this if you can call it a life. It makes me really sad to think about all the children who aren’t getting a chance with a normal joy filled childhood.
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If I was rich I would help them have job and help their family
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Right there Mohammed Nassuh says he tired of that life. He said he would work as a janitor or anything they told him to do.
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I think this sentence interested to me because the man said he doesn’t have a life because he wants to have a job, have kids, and go to differents like supermarkets,store.
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this man is saying that the way he lives in the refugee that’s not a life and he thinks its a horrible place
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so as you see that they will be going anywhere they want to go
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was he trying to that we were lucky because we wasn’t suffering in the civil war like these kids
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This whole paragraph is about kid that they took from they home and move them to a better place were they save with grown up and the government don’t have money to take care of them and if they don’t don’t have food they could die but if people from another county heard the news of this kid they could help them. What I have to say about this is it scary.
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this is kayla
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the children in the refuge camp are proud of there country even tho its being bombed
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so i see they got toys and rugs this video look like its in a day care that they have in African where ever he at but it look like a clean stop that he have on video
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Some kids or lucky and some or not its because have to grown up with no home.
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Some kids are lucky & some are not. The poor kids that can’t eat a meal are really suffering all through pain every single day. The lucky kids that do have a home, clothes, & meals everyday don’t realize when they waste food that’s bad because some kids don’t even eat at all.
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so i dont know why they happy at where they come from because they in war right now i dont get it if im in war im going to mad i dont know why they happy problem is they going to lose people
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The producer is telling how they used to live and there food, clothes, and there cultures.
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