Noor made her way back to Aleppo with her mother, but she knew she would soon have to leave her homeland, perhaps for good. Her parents weren’t prepared to leave, at least not yet, so she and her brother set off together.

As a Palestinian, Noor would need a visa to cross into Turkey, something she had no time to get. So she said she used a friend’s passport to cross the border while her brother made his way over barbed-wire fences with the help of smugglers. The siblings relocated to Gaziantep, where their parents later joined them. Today, she works with an international aid organization, coordinating supplies of water, food, and health kits for people still living in Syria.

Now 27, Noor has gotten used to living in Turkey. She rides her pink bicycle throughout the city and comes home late without asking her parent's permission. For her birthday in November, her mother promised to give her an electric guitar, something that simply would have never happened in Aleppo.

“Honestly, up until last year, I thought a lot about going back to Syria, but as I get used to life here more, I feel afraid to go back and lose the freedom I found,” Noor said. “I couldn't take a guitar out to the street there; everyone would be looking at me. It's not something normal or acceptable, especially for a girl wearing a hijab."

Noor said that her work makes her feel that she is still supporting the cause of a free Syria, even from afar. That’s why she has made some bold decisions about her own future as well.

"I don't want to lose what I worked for, regardless of the reason. A few weeks ago, my family was suggesting to me that I get engaged to a man who lives in Denmark,” Noor said. "But I said no. Maybe my life would be better off in Denmark, as a refugee with a salary, but I don't want to leave everything behind me and go. I want to be able to work for Syria, no matter what the job is, as long as it has to do with the Syrian people."

Filmmaker Tarek Turkey contributed reporting from Gazientep, Turkey. This story draws on interviews conducted in person in Turkey and on the phone from New York.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Noor had been arrested on September 14, 2013. She was arrested on September 4, 2013.