Ramadan for refugees

Sitting next to her family’s tent, Farida from Afghanistan reads a tiny Koran in the hours before the iftar meal, when Muslims break the daytime fast. During the month of Ramadan, most Muslims forego food and water during daylight hours and feast at nightfall.

Stephanie Pope (l.) from Echo 100, a volunteer organization that helps refugees and Suleyman Jnid, a refugee from Damascus, pack 150 bags full of dates. Muslims traditionally begin the iftar with a glass of water and a date.

Two boys from Syria help unload boxes donated by the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, which unexpectedly sent a delegation to the Ritsona camp bearing more than 100 kilos of dried dates.

At "the warehouse," volunteers hand out food. Ramadan specialties including ayran (a yogurt drink), dates and pomegranate juice were distributed in addition to the normal meal.

Lacking a proper kitchen, Naja Huru from Qamishlo, Syria, cooks a pot of rice over a wood fire to accompany bland daily rations for the family of nine.

Naja’s son-in-law Hassan Rasul, the father of four young boys, dances to music coming from a nearby tent with his son Rasul.

Naja's family sits down for an iftar meal of home-cooked rice to accompany the packaged soup, salad and eggplant they receive from the Greeks.

A woman reaches for a Koran inside an abandoned building that has been converted into a makeshift mosque.

As night falls, a man prays outside his tent at Ritsona camp.