The image of this father has touched me deeply. His desperation can be seen as clearly as he tries to sell some cheap pens while his daughter sleeps on his shoulder.
Photo: twitter.com/GissiSim
The only good thing is that the story of this picture has a good ending, because it triggered a huge wave of helpfulness ...
Abdul Halim Attar is the father of two young children, a girl and a boy. Three years ago, he still lived in Syria with his family. There he worked in a chocolate factory. But then came the civil war. Abdul, his children and his wife had to leave the country.
In Egypt, his wife decided to repent, she left the family and went back to Syria. Abdul was left alone with his children and fought his way through to Beirut.
Many moments of desperation
There, in the streets of Beirut, he spent some time selling his pens and other trinkets to get himself and his son and daughter through.
There must have been many moments when Abdul had no hope left. In one of these moments, these pictures were made of him - they were to be his salvation.
For the Icelander Gissur Simonarson posted these pictures on his Twitter account. A little later, the picture went around the world and many people wanted to know how they could help the man. GissurSimonarson then launched a donation campaign. His goal: to raise $ 5, 000 for Abdul and his children. This goal was reached after 30 minutes (!) - after four days more than 150, 000 dollars were together.
Syrian father selling pens in the streets of #Beirut with his sleeping daughter #Lebanon #Syria pic.twitter.com/KOz4mjW1rd
- Gissur Simonarson CN (@GissiSim) August 25, 2015
In his first post-campaign interview, Abdul was overwhelmed by the compassion and warmth of all the people who helped him. He wants to use the money to send his children back to school - and to help other Syrian refugees as well. "I do not want to be the only one to be helped, there are thousands of kids on the streets. There are many people who are even worse off than me. I sincerely hope that other people who need help will be helped by such campaigns. "
Abdul is one of the incredibly many refugees who need our help these days. But his story shows that many can achieve great things with just a little help. Take the example of the helpfulness of the people who donated to Abdul.
Anyone who wants to know how Abdul and his children will continue to find current news on this blog.
Continue reading:
► "Just do it": How a toothbrush can help refugees
