In August, the image of a shell-shocked, dust covered Syrian boy named Omran went viral. Omran and his family home were one of the many which got affected by an airstrike in Qaterji neighbourhood in east Aleppo.
Moved by the picture, six-year-old Alex has written to US President Barack Obama, asking him to bring Omran from Syria and into the safety of his home.
“Remember the boy who was picked up by the ambulance in Syria? Can you please go get him and bring him to our home?” Alex asks.
In a video posted by the White House on Wednesday, Alex reads out his letter.
Watch it here:
In his letter, Alex tells Obama to bring Omran home where Alex would welcome them with “flags, flowers and balloons.”
“We will give him a family and he will be our brother,” Alex says. He also promises to introduce Omran to Omar, a friend in Alex’s school, also from Syria and says that Omran can teach them a new language.
Alex also knows that the little Omran may want to play with toys but won’t be able to bring any. “Catherine (Alex’s sister) 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 addition and subtraction,” Alex says.
Obama read out Alex’s letter at Leaders Summit on Refugees and said that there’s a lot to learn from this six-year-old.
“The humanity that a young child can display, who hasn’t learnt to be cynical or suspicious, or fearful of other people because of where they’re from, or how they look or how they pray. We can all learn from Alex,” he says.
Watch the original video of Omran here: