Thousands of people die in the world everyday – out of hunger, chronic diseases, accidents, war and terrorism. Although I feel for it, nothing shook me up like the death of Aylan Kurdi.
Three-year-old Aylan Kurdi was born into a country eaten up by war. His parents wanted what any other parent would want for their children - what hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war-prone violence want -- a place to be alive- a safe home. This is what is driving them to Europe – a hope to get grip on their life although they have to start from scratch.
Trying to make that simple but treacherous dream a reality, Aylan, his brother and mother drowned in the sea enroute Greece from Syria when their boat capsized in Turkish waters. An image of his dead body washed up on the Turkish beach came to my notice when I was reading my daily news update in the morning on my way to work. So why did this shake me up? Im a mother myself now and the image of this boy’s dead body resembled nothing different than the sleeping position of my 2 year old baby before I woke her up that morning. Just that he didn’t smile and respond to anyone who tried to wake him up. His dream to live took away his life.
It got me thinking to what extend am I blessed. I might be struggling with different problems everyday but is it anything in comparison to what these fleeing refugees, for example, encounter in their daily life? This weekend, when the borders of Austria and Germany opened up for refugees, there were more than tens of thousands of refugees coming to Austria – via buses, trains, by foot.
Me and Vivek were following the twitter feeds of what was the condition of these people where hundreds of volunteers tweeted continuously on what the refugees needed help with. We went to the railwaystation where the refugees were pouring in and tried to distribute showergels, wet tissues, clothes etc. We lay it on a sheet in front of us and were handing it over to whoever came by us. It’s a funny story coz we were also mistaken for refugees (probably due to skin colour) and people were handing things to us too…hehe… We continued to do this throughout the weekend with the help of friends and family who also wanted to give away their jackets and warm clothes and shoes and thus help the refugees in whatever little way they could. So many people were forthcoming to help with food, clothes, medicines and other supplies, that I was suddenly so proud to be a part of the helping hand.
Why was it important to do this? This is a very humbling experience on its own. Just to give some examples: There was a almost new pair of men’s shoes donated by a volunteer which was lying in front of us. A refugee who obviously walked miles and miles before he reached Austria had half worn out shoes and when he saw this new pair of shoes, immediately tried it on.. luckily the same size too.. he happily discarded his shoes and left with the new ones on.. Then minutes later, another refugee walked past who had torn shoes with holes. He saw these discarded half worn out shoes and was happy he could get a better pair than his own. Eye-opening incident of how one’s left over becomes a fortune for the other (when we try to buy new shoes every other month coz it doesn’t match the colour of our dress.)
Every little thing you do to help is a big help. If you don’t have any materialistic things to give away, but if you have time, its good enough coz you can use it to help others those who want to help. Get involved! coz refugees are also human beings who are educated and entitled to a normal day to day life like us. Help them get back their lives on tracks by doing every little thing you can. You can make a difference. There needn’t be loads of Aylan whose future are washed away in the tides of the sea coz they dared to dream and live and to be safe.
