By Sue Ung
Warning: The following contains graphic images and videos that may cause distress.
Pictured (left to right) Aylan Kurdi and Galip Kurdi
It all started in March 2011 when pro-democracy protesters roamed the city of Deraa. Teenagers grafftied their school wall with a demand for revolution and in responc\se to these actions, security opened fire and killing several people. Soon after, hundreds of thousand Syrians were protesting for a revolution and against, what they believed was unnecessary use of force. According to the UN in June 2013, 90,000 lives had been taken during the conflict. And now, the deaths are continuing to add up.
Man carrying a female out of affected area during Syrian conflict
If we weren't given much reason to shove ourselves in the Syrian conflict, then we do now. On Thursday, September 3 we were given proof that the war in Syria was, and still is bigger and more serious than we all expected it to be. War crime, chemical weapons, rebels, and civil war have destroyed the country. The Syrian conflict is now known as the “gravest refugee crisis since World War II”. As of right now there are 4,086,760 Syrians are registered as refugees. Out of that four million were Abdullah, Rehan, Galip, and Aylan Kurdi. The family of four set out on a boat packed full of others trying to escape the conflict by going to Greece. Abdullah told reporters that he relied on his sister, Tima Kurdi in Canada to help pay rent and for other financial needs - one including getting his teeth fixed. Tima encouraged her brother to get his teeth fixed in Greece because she knew he wouldn't be successful in America with damaged teeth. Abdullah's final goal was to reach North America and live a successful life with his family. Tima had originally wired money to her brother for only him to go to Greece. However, things got bit complicated when his wife, Rehan didn't have the financial means to support their two children alone if Abdullah left. So Abdullah told his sister that he wanted to take his whole family to Greece. Tima specifically recalls her brother telling her, "if we go, we go all of us". They all, as a family did embark on the trip to Greece; however, the boat capsized before arriving killing fifteen passengers including Rehan, Galip, and Aylan. Galip was five and Aylan was three years old. Husband and father, Abdullah was the only surviving family member. In an interview, Tima recalls what her brother experienced during the capsizing. Sharing that her brother tried to save his sons, but after realizing that they were gone he "let them go" and tried to find his wife, only to find out that she too was dead.
Video of Tima Kurdi, aunt of Galip and Aylan Kurdi, recalling what her brother experienced
That Thursday, Abdullah told reporters that he was planning on taking the bodies back to his home in Kobani. He told them saying, “from now on, I will live (in Kobani) too. I want to
be buried with my family”. In another interview, Abdullah said, "Everything I dreamed of is gone". This just goes to show how much the Syrian conflict has affected not only Abdullah's life, but the lives of millions.
When the boat capsized, fifteen people were left dead and Aylan Kurdi's "lifeless" body was found on the Turkish beach. The image shocked the world and made us realize that more needed to be done in Syria.
Aylan Kurdi's body found by Turkish beach
Aylan Kurdi's body being taken away by official
Since these photos, more attention and awareness has been brought towards the Syrian conflict. Many countries are starting to accept Syrian refugees such as Turkey, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates. Asylum requests can be given to Germany, Hungary, Denmark, and the United Kingdom. The U.S. and Canada are also helping refugees with resettlements.
Social media has also had a huge impact on how the world has been seeing the Syrian conflict. The Twitter hashtag #KiyiyaVuranInsanlik meaning "humanity washed ashore" started trending. This began to bring awareness towards the issues concerning human rights in Syria.
Twitter posts using the hashtag
I believe that Syria needs help... a lot of help. It's great that North America, and the surrounding countries are helping refugees. But the question now shouldn't be "how do we continue to help the refugees?" It should be "how do we stop or try to control the Syrian war?" I'm no politician and I know it goes deeper than telling the Syrian president to stop killing his people. But there must be something more we can do. Something that we can do with our army, the United States specifically.
We must do something to prevent more families from suffering deaths of husbands, wives, sons and daughters. They are human beings with lives, with families, dreams, goals to accomplish and places to see. How could it be so easy to take away all that from a person in an instant? I can barely look at the images of Aylan and others who are in so much pain right now.
Being a college student at Merrimack, I hear a lot of complaints about the food at Sparky's or how the laundry machine is broken. But the truth is, we can do something about those things. We can give the manager's at Sparky's feedback on their food. We can report the problem to the laundry machine company. The people in Syria, have two choices - to stay or to leave. To stay, would mean to suffer. To leave, would mean to suffer in a foreign land, but to also be free of war. Clearly, many have been taking that latter route.
This image of Aylan and this conflict, really puts things in perspective. Although your issues may seem big and like the world is going to end, for the Syrians, their world and lives are already gone. Homes destroyed, families have been torn apart, deaths and destruction. I'm very fortunate to live in the United States where I have a lot of freedom compared to other countries. And I am very fortunate to be an educated young woman.
Martinez, Michael. "Syrian Refugees: Which Countries Welcome Them - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News Network, 10 Sept. 2015. Web. 24 Sept. 2015.
Parkinson, Joe, and Davd George-Cosh. "Image of Drowned Syrian Boy Echoes Around World." WSJ. Wall Street Journal World, 3 Sept. 2015. Web. 24 Sept. 2015.
Rodgers, Lucy, David Gritten, James Offer, and Patrick Asare. "Syria: The Story of the Conflict - BBC News." BBC News. BBC News, 12 Mar. 2015. Web. 24 Sept. 2015.
Smith, Helena. "Shocking Images of Drowned Syrian Boy Show Tragic Plight of Refugees." The Guardian. The Guardian, 2 Sept. 2015. Web. 24 Sept. 2015.
"UNHCR Syria Regional Refugee Response." UNHCR Syria Regional Refugee Response. The UN Regugee Agency, 17 Sept. 2015. Web.
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