The ongoing Syrian war has taken the lives of hundred of thousands, leaving thousands of children dead or orphaned.
Hiba is one of those orphans. The 16-year-old girl from Aleppo lost both her parents and sister to bombings in Syria. Now, she is using the power of art to document her and her brothers' escape to Jordan.
Hiba shared her story with the International Rescue Committee, explaining her family's escape from Aleppo. At first, her family fled Aleppo to another town. There her father died in a missile strike, which hit the bakery he worked in.
"We spent two years mourning; there wasn’t much joy left in our lives," Hiba said, according to IRC .
Hiba made a drawing depicting the bombing that took the lives of many people dear to her heart.
"This is a mother who is trying to protect her child, but can’t. I didn’t draw a house; I drew safety in a mother’s arms," she said.
"A person who lost his gold can find it in the gold market, and a person who lost a lover will soon forget him, but a person who lost his country, where will he find it?"
Soon after her father died, Hiba's mother decided to move them to another town, which she thought was safer at the time. It was ... for awhile.
"There was a strong sense of community; people were united. You would feel as comfortable out on the streets as in your own home. I used to go to school also; I studied until 10th grade," Hiba said.
But after two years, the family's neighborhood was bombed, killing her mother and younger sister. Hiba was left alone with her three brothers.
That's when her grandparents asked them to move to Amman. After her aunt helped get them a taxi, they got dropped off near the border and finally made it to the berm, a desert filled with tents and people who have fled their war-torn homes in Syria.
They soon made it across the border into Jordan, meeting different people from the IRC who helped them get by.
"I couldn’t bear to stay in Syria. It kept reminding me of what I lost—it drove me crazy. My brothers and I chose to leave Syria all together," Hiba said.
The children waited three months at the IRC center before the aid workers were able to finally reunite them with their grandparents in Jordan.
"This is my grandmother. My brothers and I were sitting around her and she started telling us stories about my dad when he was a kid. My grandmother started crying remembering him and we started crying too."