* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Amid a bustling crowd, 12 year-old Akram sat quietly on top of some bags cradling and stroking a white cat. Around him, hundreds of Syrian refugees were gathering their belongings, preparing to board buses at the Ibrahim Khalil border checkpoint. They'd escaped attacks by the so called 'Islamic State' on the Syrian border city of Kobane and surrounding areas, fleeing their homes in northern Syria, crossing into Turkey before travelling onwards to Iraq's Northern Kurdistan Region (KR-I). The buses, arranged by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), will take them to refugee camps for Syrians inside the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan.
Akram tended his cat like it was a baby. His wide-eyed face appeared to take in the scene around him, but gave no clues that he was part of it. He appeared calm and self-contained. Akram always loved animals and back home in Syria he cared for abandoned street animals brought to him by neighbours. Briefly, in Turkey, it was the same. He hadn't yet named his cat, but decided to bring her with him and his family of eight on the journey to Iraq.
But he wasn't speaking much. "Akram was always a very quiet boy back in Syria" said his father, Ali, "but since the war and all the fighting, he's got quieter and quieter. His younger brother jumps and gets scared when he hears anything. It's been difficult for the children".
