Hey kiddo,
I’m so sorry. I’m sorry about everything you’ve gone through in your incredibly short life span. I’m sorry you’ve watched your mother, father and brother and sister die right in front of you. I’m sorry you’ve experienced your house crumble right on top of you. I’m sorry that since the day you were born you've heard bombs and rather than birds. I’m sorry that you never got to take a first day of school photo wearing your backpack and carrying your lunchbox.
I’m sorry the world is just now understanding how much you’re suffering. I’m sorry world leaders are playing with your life and your fellow Syrian’s lives like pawns in a chess game. I’m sorry that countries don’t want to take you in as a refugee to restore a normal life because they think it is inevitable that you are a terrorist and will add to the violence and deaths of their citizens. I’m sorry you haven’t eaten more than 100 calories in the last week. I’m sorry that your options are likely dying at sea trying to escape or likely dying in the hospital that got bombed twice. I’m sorry that you’ve seen people’s skins melt off because of the chlorine bombs. No child should have to know what you know.
I hope that your misery will end soon. I hope that your innocence will be restored once again. I hope that you will one day see the good the world can offer. I hope that one day you will smile again. I hope that one day you will grow up in a democracy. I hope that one day you will wake up to the sun shining and the birds chirping. I hope that you will attend school one day to learn how to fix the problems that people created that got you into this mess. I hope that you will grow up one day in a better world: a world that puts humanity over politics. A world that respects everyone as a pure human rather than the labels put upon them.very other refugee in my arms and take you to live with me. I wish more than anything that at least one building was left standing in your city. I wish more than anything you didn’t have to fear for your life being stripped from you every second of the day. I wish more than anything I could take the pain away from you. I wish more than anything that you could experience freedom and respect from your government. I wish more than anything that I could stop Putin and Assad myself. I wish more than anything that I could convince Obama to intervene. I wish more than anything that people had some sense of humanity left in them.
For now, keep fighting and keep believing that Syria will rise once again.
Peace for the world and for you,
Haya Akbik
If you want to know more about the Syrian refugee crisis and want to help, visit http://atlantichumanitarianrelief.org/
