Strife torn Syria has always been seen as a theatre of war. Stories emerging from the area have time and again shown the ugly side of war. And how war can leave a deep scar on the lives of people. Very often the world has seen moving visuals be it that of Aylan Khurdi or that of Omran Daqneesh. This time the news coming from there has been that of awe and how children and their simplicity can be healers in the global community.
In a recent letter to US President Barack Obama and other world leaders, a six year old has said that he wants to open the doors of his home for a Syrian child who was filmed stunned and covered with blood after a bombing in Aleppo.
It was Alex from New York who wrote to Obama after seeing a shocked Omran Daqneesh.
Omran’s moving image had gone viral after he was pictured in the back of an ambulance after being rescued from the aftermath of a bomb attack in Aleppo.
Omran’s photo inspired Alex to write to the White House with a plea: “Can you please go get him and bring him to our home?”
The little boy added: “We’ll be waiting for you guys with flags, flowers and balloons. We will give him a family and he will be our brother.”
A video clip of Alex reading the letter was posted on the White House Facebook page and has been viewed almost seven million times.
Omran Daqneesh
Obama was so impressed by the thought of the child that he said – “The humanity a young child can display who hasn’t learned to be cynical or suspicious or fearful of other people because of where they’re from or how they look or how they pray.
“We can learn a lot from Alex.”
Omran — like Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler who drowned last September and whose body washed up on a Turkish beach — is bringing new attention to the thousands of children killed and injured during five years of war and the inability of global powers to stop the carnage.
The majority of refugees are from Syria though some have also fled Afghanistan and Iraq. The UN’s refugee agency, the UNHCR, says the number crossing the Mediterranean has now exceeded 300,000.
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