A Syrian family in Pomona

By the pool in the motel’s courtyard, Omar, 19, plays with little sister Massa, 5. The family is hoping to soon find a more permanent home.

Fouad Wawieh stands outside of his family’s motel room in Pomona. Fouad and his wife, along with their six children, fled Syria and arrived in the U.S. last month after being granted refugee status.

Pulling a small table into the middle of the room, members of Fouad Wawieh’s family — including Omar, 19; Omran, 12; Maram, 9; and Massa, 5 — eat lunch at the motel.

Omran Wawieh, 12, looks for approval from his older brother, Omar, as he chooses a box of Pepsi at a grocery store near the Pomona motel. Riding along is 5-year-old Massa.

Omar Wawieh, 19, gets a kiss from sister Massa, 5, after grocery shopping. The family spent 18 months in Egypt before being selected for emigration to the U.S.

Omar Wawieh, center, Fares Bassil, left, and Ahmad Takleh take a break from work and dance to music they found on the computer. They work at BMT Auto Parts in Irwindale. The three knew each other in Syria several years ago.

Omran and his sister Maram look in Omran’s new backpack outside of his classroom after school at Mountain View Elementary School in Claremont. The children were both given courage awards by the school.

As older brother Omran watches, Maram gestures as she reads a book aloud in English after school at Mountain View Elementary in Claremont.

Maram cheers as the principal announces prizes at a school assembly at Mountain View Elementary.

Big brother Omar Wawieh and sixth-grade teacher Jacqueline McElvy pose for photos with Omran after he receives the award in his class for expressing courage.

Omran peeks into his family’s new apartment and tries to get their attention to help unload a truck of donated furniture that has just arrived.

Omar, left, Omran and their father, Fouad Wawieh, right, unload a donated dresser from the truck as they move into their new apartment in Pomona.

Fouad Wawieh sets down his family’s new kitchen table, which was donated, in their new home. The family lost all its possessions in the Syrian civil war. The family was helped in its first weeks in the U.S. by a nonprofit contracted by the government.