The heart-breaking picture of five-year-old Omran Daqdeesh, covered in blood and dust after his house in Aleppo was destroyed in a blast, struck a chord with people around the world last month – including a boy called Alex, who lives in Scarsdale, New York.
Alex wrote to Obama to offer his home to Omran saying: ”We will give him a family and he will be our brother.”
“我們將給他一個家庭,他將成為我們的兄弟”, 男孩在寫給奧巴馬的信中這樣寫道。
On Wednesday night, Obama posted a video that showed Alex reading his letter out loud – and it quickly went viral, attracting more than 13million views in a day.
Remember the boy who was picked up by the ambulance in Syria? Can you please go get him and bring him to [my home]? Park in the driveway or on the street and we will be waiting for you guys with flags, flowers, and balloons. We will give him a family and he will be our brother.
Catherine, my little sister, will be collecting butterflies and fireflies for 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.
Please tell him that his brother will be Alex who is a very kind boy, just like him. 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. And he [can] smell Catherine's lip gloss penguin which is green. She doesn't let anyone touch it.
Thank you very much! I can't wait for you to come!
非常感謝!迫不及待等你來啦!
Alex
亞歷克斯
Alongside the video on Facebook, Obama wrote: ‘These are the words of a six-year-old boy - a young child who has not learned to be cynical or suspicious or fearful of other people because of where they come from, how they look, or how they pray.
Obama also mentioned Alex’s letter during a speech at the United Nations summit where the world leaders have gathered to discuss what they could do to solve the global refugee crisis this week.
‘He teaches us a lot,’ ‘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, and who just understands the notion of treating somebody that is like him with compassion, with kindness.