I’m struggling to find the words for this post as all I can see is the image of little 3 year old Aylan Kurdi washed up on the beach, still in his little toddler clothes. He looks like he could be one of my boys at that age, the same except for the darker hair. His little lifeless body being carried up the beach. Every time I think of it, it makes me cry and I’m not ashamed to say that I have cried every night on going to bed this week thinking about my babies and how much I love them.
The image brought it home to me, the fact that he looked so similar to my little boys, he could have been one of them if I and they had been born in a different country. It made me stop in my tracks and think. Think about how lucky I am, how lucky my children are. I cannot imagine what it must be like to be that desperate for a better life for my children that I would put them at such risk. The despair, the determination is something that I as a Mum living in the UK, don’t have to worry about. We are lucky that we live in a country that isn’t at war, that isn’t being occupied by Islamic fundamentalists. A country where our children are safe, can go to School and live happy healthy lives.
Watching images of the refugee camps, I cannot comprehend why you would want to take your family there, the squalor, the danger to reach them. They must be living in hell for that to be preferable!
It’s very easy to sit at home with the ‘It’s not my problem attitude’. With worries over the housing crisis here, the lack of jobs and the problem with migration, it can make you tar everyone with the same brush. I’m probably to some extent guilty of that. However the refugee crisis is something else. Desperate and inhumane! No mother should feel that she needs to put her children in such danger to reach a place of safety, a place for them to have a better life. If it was me that was having to flee my country, having to risk my children’s lives I would want someone, anyone to help me. I don’t think I would be able understand how people could sit at home with their children safely tucked up in bed, watching images of me and my children suffering on TV and doing nothing about it!
I can no longer be one of those people which is why I’m so pleased to be part of #SaveSyriasChildren campaign. It’s restored some of my faith in humanity to see how many people are feeling the same, that want to help in some way. I hope it reaches those in need, that they see that we care, we want to help. That they see we are acknowledging that what is happening isn’t right. That it gives them some hope, some relief and helps to stop any more tragedies from happening like the other day.
There’s lots that you could do from the comfort of your own home.
Please don’t turn a blind eye.
Do Something to help.
Anything.
Whatever you decide, don’t choose apathy.
#SaveSyriasChildren To donate £5 please text SYRIA to 70008
Or donations can be made online via Save The Children