“Syrian Crisis” was one of the topics I started to do research in 2012 & once I finished the same with no end to the story, I totally kept it out of my mid. Though I am so keen on current affairs both local & international, I wasn’t focusing much on that topic. As a usual practice, I logged in to my social media sites last Friday morning & the first post I saw took my breath away & made me speechless for minutes & brought unstoppable tears to my eyes at office! It was graphic photograph of Aylan Kurdi, 3 year old boy that was drowned to death & washed up on the Turkish shores! He was dressed beautifully with my favorite colors to wear red t-shirt with a blue jean! Before reading the post I thought it was kind of a modern photo shoot that parents wanted to do on their kinds! A beautifully dressed toddler lay face down at the edge of the surf, sleeping peacefully! But it wasn’t a photo shoot. It made me think & re-think that “Life is but a dream for the dead.” And you never know what time you wake up!
t wasn’t only me, Kurdi woke up the whole world & reminded about the Syrian refugee crisis. However the crisis is not new! One of the worst Humanitarian catastrophes of all time, Syria’s Civil war has displaced more than 11 million people so far. With all the explanations & justifications come with complexity, there is a simple fact remaining – Millions of Syrians need our help! This image won’t stop the war or even the European & US policies towards migrants & refugees. But, it might make the entire human race to understand the modern world's failure to observe the humanity.
As a part of Arab-spring, the anti-government movements in Syria started in March 2011. It didn’t take a long time to transfer these peaceful movements in to violence where the government & the rebel’s confrontations continue. More than 4 years after this, over 220,000 people were killed. UN estimates indicate early 7.6million people are internally displaced ( IDPs), whereas millions are seeking for flee.
Thousands of Syrians flee their country every day & this keep continuing as they see the bombing & killing of their own people. There is no safer way to escape. The risk of the journey to escape as high as staying on their lands! Some walk for miles through the night to avoid being shot or being caught by soldiers who will kidnap young men to fight for the regime.
How many people have fled their homes, leaving everything they earned during their life? How many people lost their loved ones? Answers can be estimated & numbered, but replies to those hearts are not even acceptable. What are their greatest needs?
After he lost his family, Mr. Abdullah stayed 3 hrs in the sea b4 getting rescued by Greek coast guard. He's devastated. #AylanKurdi @akhbar
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa)
This tragedy calls for Humanity! At least this made “everyone to become a human “as there was the outpouring of emotions shared across the world, at least for a moment! The hashtag “KiyiyaVuranInsanlik” — “humanity washed ashore” — became the top trending topic on Twitter. Aylan lost his life & had no chance to survive! After all, how often do we get second chance in life? Take a minute, think about it!
