‘My children are cold’

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Umm Raghad's children don't have proper clothes or a furnace at home to stay warm during Syria's bitter winter so they burn scraps of garbage to keep the biting cold at bay.

Winter usually spells tragedy for northwest Syria, home to more than three million people, nearly half of whom have been displaced by a decade-long war that has killed nearly half a million.

In makeshift camps in the country's last major rebel enclave, streets turn muddy, tents leak and inhabitants die of hypothermia or in fires caused by unsafe heating methods.

Widowed by war, Umm Raghad moved to the Kafr Arouk camp three years ago to escape fighting in other parts of Idlib province.

The harsh winter is unbearable for her family, which doesn't have enough money for even the most basic of necessities, she said.

"I can't afford to buy a furnace or to feed my children," Umm Raghad said.

"My children are cold. They don't have proper clothes."

Snowfall and sub-zero temperatures are not unusual in northwestern Syria.

Aid agencies often help insulate tents and provide blankets and clothes, but donor funding is struggling to keep up with growing demand.

According to the UN's refugee agency UNHCR, $182 million are required to finance growing needs in winter assistance across Syria this year but only half of the amount has been secured.

In the Kafr Arouk camp, a rudimentary furnace set up in Umm Raed's tarpaulin tent attracts dozens of people looking to keep warm.

Last year, a group of people donated the heater to Umm Raed, whose eight children include three with special needs.