A child’s letter to Barack Obama asking for a young Syrian refugee to be resettled in his home has gone viral and been praised by the US president at the United Nations.
“Remember the boy who was picked up by the ambulance in Syria? Can you please go get him and bring him to my home?” the letter from six-year-old Alex of Scarsdale, New York, began. “Park in the driveway or on the street and we will be waiting for you guys with flags, flowers, and balloons.”
The letter was referring to Omran Daqneesh, the five-year-old boy who was filmed sitting dazed, bloodied and covered in dust after being pulled from the rubble of his home in Aleppo, Syria, last month.
Alex’s innocent and heartfelt letter hoping to help provide a better life for the Syrian boy earned widespread attention online after it was published by the White House and referenced in remarks by the president to the UN. The White House did not give Alex’s last name.
A video published by the White House that showed Alex sitting at his dining table and reading his letter aloud has been shared over 100,000 times on Facebook, with many commenters saying his words moved them to tears. One referenced a tweet by Donald Trump Jr, the son of the Republican nominee, which compared Syrian refugees to poisoned Skittles. “Neither of these sweet little boys, someone’s sons, are Skittles,” she wrote.
“We will give him a family and he will be our brother,” Alex wrote in his letter. The little boy pledged that his younger sister, Catherine, would collect butterflies and fireflies for him. He would introduce him to his friends and share his toys with him.
“In my school, I have a friend from Syria, Omar, and I will introduce him to Omar. We can all play together. We can invite him to birthday parties and he will teach us another language. We can teach him English too, just like my friend Aoto from Japan,” Alex wrote.
“Since he won’t bring toys and doesn’t have toys Catherine will share her big blue stripy white bunny. And I will share my bike and I will teach him how to ride it. I will teach him additions and subtractions in math.”
Omran was rescued with his three siblings and his mother and father, after an airstrike. His older sister and brother had been brought in the ambulance with him, according to the journalist who filmed the video. His eldest brother died in the hospital from his injuries.
Obama, in his speech on refugees on Tuesday, said: “We can all learn from Alex.”
“The humanity that a young child can display who hasn’t learned to be cynical or suspicious or fearful of other people because of where they’re from or how they look or how they pray,” Obama said.
Obama reads 10 letters from Americans each day, chosen by his staff from the thousands sent by mail, email, phone and Facebook messenger – a new method unveiled in August.
