Ramadan for refugees

The month-long Muslim holiday of Ramadan began last week. In a camp of about 800, refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan celebrate with what little they have. Jodi Hilton reports from Ritsona Camp outside Athens

Month of prayer: 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
Preparing packages: 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
Surprise donation: 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
Urgent needs met: 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
Making do: 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
Family time: 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
Breaking the fast: 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
Time for prayer: a woman reaches for a Koran inside an abandoned building that has been converted into a makeshift mosque
Ending the day: as night falls, a man prays outside his tent at Ritsona camp