Magnus Wennman, Photographer, Shows Us Where Syrian Refugee Children Sleep

As Canada prepares to welcome 25,000 of the nearly four million refugees who have fled the war in Syria, one photographer is making their stories very real.

In his series of photos entitled "Where The Children Sleep," photographer Magnus Wennman introduces us to many Syrian children, including nine-year-old Fatima who is now in Sweden.

In his caption, Wennman writes: "Fatima is from Idlib in Syria. At night she dreams that she falls off a boat in the middle of the ocean. The same boat that smuggled them from Libya to the Italian coast a while ago."

The Swedish news photographer captured images of Syrian children on the Serbian-Hungarian border, in a refugee camp and in a hospital in Jordan.

In these heart-wrenching photos, we learn of their lives in Syria, their escape and the nightmares they continue to live with.

Maram, 8 on a hospital bed in Amman, Jordan. She has severe brain injury after a bomb struck near her home in Syria. Maram is one of the few who managed to cross the border to Jordan for medical treatment. #jordan #syria #war #injury #child #syrien #photojournalism #canon #aftonbladet #work
A photo posted by Magnus Wennman (@magnuswennman) on Feb 5, 2015 at 10:07am PST

Ralia, 7, and Rahaf, 13, lives on the street in Beirut. They come from Damascus, where a grenade killed their mother and brother. Together with their father, they have slept on the sidewalk for a year. They are always close to each other. Rahaf says she is afraid of "bad boys". When she says it Ralia starts to cry. Tomorrow you can se/read more about where the Syrian refugee children sleep when we start our series #jagbryrmig in @aftonbladetnyheter #syria #beirut #refugees #childrenofsyria #syrien #homeless #photojournalism #work
A photo posted by Magnus Wennman (@magnuswennman) on Mar 10, 2015 at 3:14pm PDT

Moyad, 5, and his mother wanted to bake a pie. Hand in hand they went to the market in Daraa to by some flour. They walked by a taxi, where someone had placed a bomb. Moyads mother died immediately. The boy, flown to Jordan, has shrapnel in his head, his back and his pelvis. Tomorrow you can se/read more about where the Syrian refugee children sleep when we start our series #jagbryrmig in @aftonbladetnyheter #syria #amman #jordan #war #refugees #childrenofsyria #syrien #homeless #photojournalism #work
A photo posted by Magnus Wennman (@magnuswennman) on Mar 10, 2015 at 3:17pm PDT

Fara, 2, loves football. Her father tries to make footballs of all the material he could find. Every night when he says good night to Fara, and her older sister Tisam, 9, he hopes that they will wake up to a new day when they will get a real football to play with. All other dreams feels unattainable for him. Tomorrow you can se/read more about where the Syrian refugee children sleep when we start our series #jagbryrmig in @aftonbladetnyheter #syria #amman #jordan #war #refugees #childrenofsyria #syrien #homeless #photojournalism #work
A photo posted by Magnus Wennman (@magnuswennman) on Mar 10, 2015 at 3:21pm PDT

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. // link to full article in my bio.
A photo posted by Magnus Wennman (@magnuswennman) on Mar 11, 2015 at 3:24am PDT

There’s a difference between closing your eyes and sleeping, as six-year-old Gulistan knows. She prefers to shut her eyes and just pretend, because every time she really falls asleep, the nightmares start. “I don’t want to sleep here. I want to sleep at home,” she says. She misses the pillow she had in Kobane. Sometimes she lies against her mother and uses her as a pillow. // link to full article in my bio
A photo posted by Magnus Wennman (@magnuswennman) on Mar 11, 2015 at 3:28am PDT

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. // link to full article in my bio
A photo posted by Magnus Wennman (@magnuswennman) on Mar 11, 2015 at 3:30am PDT

Shiraz, 9, was three months old when she was stricken with a severe fever. The doctor diagnosed polio and advised her parents to not spend too much money on medicine for the girl who "didn't have a chance." Then the war came. Her mother, Leila, starts crying when she describes how she wrapped the girl in a blanket and carried her over the border from Kobane to Turkey. Shiraz, who can't talk, received a wooden cradle in the refugee camp. She lies there. Day and night. Link to the full story in my bio! #jagbryrmig #icare #syria #kobane #suruc #turkey #refugee #polio #photojournalism
A photo posted by Magnus Wennman (@magnuswennman) on Mar 27, 2015 at 5:33am PDT

Fatima is nine years old and lives in a rental apartment in Norberg, Sweden with her mother Malachi and two brothers. Fatima is from Idlib in Syria. At night she dreams that she falls of a boat in the middle of the ocean. The same boat that smuggled them from Libya to the Italian coast a while ago. #syria #refugee #nightmare #dream #photojournalism #work #canon #fatima
A photo posted by Magnus Wennman (@magnuswennman) on Jun 24, 2015 at 2:38am PDT

Radwan and his seven months old baby Muhammed hiding on the Serbian fields in the light of the moon. They will try to cross the border to Hungary illegally. They have to force the barb wire and hundreds of Hungarian policemen. One small step on their journey to reach Germany. #icare #syria #hungary #serbia #refugees #war #photojournalism #work @aftonbladetnyheter
A photo posted by Magnus Wennman (@magnuswennman) on Aug 30, 2015 at 2:28pm PDT

Serbian/Hungarian border. Today. Thousands of refugees are still waiting at the Hungarian border. No one knows what will happen now. This Iraqi girl was sleeping in the forest near the border. The refugees I talked to say they can't go any other way. They don't understand why they can't pass thru Hungary. Most of them want to go to Germany. At the border gates people are shouting "Open the gate!" And "We love Merkel!" #Syrian #iraq #refugee #border #hungary #serbia #merkel #germany #war #photojournalism
A photo posted by Magnus Wennman (@magnuswennman) on Sep 15, 2015 at 3:01pm PDT

Serbian/Hungarian border. Today. Early morning and the refugees are sleeping on the road next to the border. The night was cold. Some families have their own tents but most are wrapped in heat blankets on the street. #refugees #border #hungary #serbia
A photo posted by Magnus Wennman (@magnuswennman) on Sep 16, 2015 at 4:39am PDT

Today, you will find my story "Where the children sleep" on aftonbladet.se. Link is in my bio. And on Thursday my exhibition (with the same name) will open at @fotografiska. Sham 1 year old Roszke/Horgos. 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.
A photo posted by Magnus Wennman (@magnuswennman) on Sep 26, 2015 at 1:22am PDT

Since the photos were released, people are reacting positively to Wennman's images.

This is important documentation. What we're witnessing here is the birth of a disenfranchised, displaced generation. https://t.co/1Aijqmone6
— Alexandra Khan (@alxkhn) November 18, 2015

Over one million Syrian refugees are under the age of 12. https://t.co/HqRdXYRD9t
— Melanie Starling (@melaniestarling) November 18, 2015

Let's remember these when talking about refugees: Haunting images of Syria's lost children
https://t.co/i02VJ94h93 pic.twitter.com/DzQSp5qMwQ
— Louise Roug (@louiseroug) November 18, 2015

I don't have the answers, but tell me you can look at these babies and believe they deserve this #Syria https://t.co/ovdqnkOErX
— The Bourbon Babe (@carlacarlton) November 18, 2015

Magnus Wennman Magnus Wennman photos Magnus Wennman where the children sleep parents Syrian refugee children

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