In the busy streets , shoppers and workers rush by the homeless little boy with a flute -- some dropping change , but most ignoring him . Sitting on the sidewalk in Istanbul , Turkey , his head is barely above knee height of the adults around him . But he plays on -- for hours , knowing that each coin or note can help his family survive another day . The flute is a cheap one , but it is key to their struggle . The money he makes -- usually about $ 10 a day -- will help feed his mom and four siblings . The family escaped the horrors of war in Aleppo , Syria , and he says they now live in a park . He does not say which park or if they have a tent for shelter at night . According to U.N figures , there are about 1 million registered refugees in Turkey , but the country says the total is closer to 1.6 million . Research from the Migration Policy Centre adds that in the last couple of months , there has been another spike as Syrians flee the rise of ISIS . The boy says he has been in Turkey for about a year . He plays falteringly and his young face looks innocent , but he knows the cruelty of war . He says his dad died in Aleppo , which has seen some of the fiercest fighting in Syria and is a rebel stronghold that President Bashar al-Assad 's army has attacked . The boy , who says he is 6 , complains that his head hurts and talks of the guns back in Aleppo . As he plays on , he is relying on the kindness of strangers and watching for police patrols , as begging on the streets is illegal . When police do see him -- this time as he walks back to his makeshift home -- an officer confiscates his flute . But he can not be kept down . A new flute is $ 5 -- half is daily profit -- but if he is to play on , if he is to help feed his family , if they are to have some hope , it 's a small expense . And tomorrow , he will play again .
A man who plays a flute to help keep his family fed . He makes about $ 100 a week in Istanbul , Turkey . He is from Aleppo , Syria , with his family .