His story has moved and captivated the world. During the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria on February 6, more than 50,000 people lost their lives, including Afraa’s family. The girl was found under the rubble still attached by the umbilical cord to her dead mother.
This Friday, Afraa turns 40, traditionally a time of celebration for the baby and the mother in Syria, according to the Al Jazeera channel, which met the little girl in her new home.
It was her paternal aunt Hala, her husband Khalil Sawadi and their six children, the youngest of whom was born two days after her, who took Afraa in.
“I ran to the hospital”
When the first earthquake, of magnitude 7.8, hits the Afraa family’s building, located in Jandairis, in northern Syria, it collapses. Shortly after, Khalil Sawadi, who lives in a neighboring house, goes to the scene of the tragedy and begins to search through the rubble.
He hears noises and realizes that they are coming from a baby. When she manages to get the newborn out, Khalil Sawadi has to hold it while someone runs to get a knife to cut the umbilical cord that still connected Afraa to her mother.
“At that moment I knew that the rest of the family was dead, so I took the baby and ran to the Jandaris Military Hospital to try to save it,” the man told Al Jazeera.
“We will take care of her like our own children”
The boy was then transported to a hospital in Afrin, where he stayed with a doctor while he received treatment and could be recovered by the family. “He broke three ribs and had dust in his lungs because he was born under the rubble,” Hala told Al Jazeera.
“We regularly take her to the hospital for follow-up, but overall she is doing well.
This family’s home was also badly damaged during the earthquakes. She now lives in a nearby camp, in a large makeshift tent. “I am breastfeeding both girls…I would never have given up on Afraa. She is my niece, of my own blood. Many people wanted to adopt her, but we didn’t. We will take care of her like our own children,” says Hala.
“I loved my cousin, everyone loved him, and I will take care of his daughter as if she were my own,” her husband agrees.
Source: BFM TV
