My colleague, Bathoul Ahmed wrote this from Tripoli, Lebanon. It made me cry:
Today i met an 11 yr old whose beautiful face won’t leave my head. He
wore a hat and looked down at his feet. He never looked up. I tried
several times to catch his eye or get his attention somehow but he
looked away. Under his hat, he had placed what looked like a small hand
towel which almost covered his face. I hadn’t seen that before. He was
with his mother and 4 siblings. He sat quietly on the side whilst his
siblings talked and laughed as they waited to get their vaccines.
I approached his mother to find out where in Syria they were from. She tells me they are from Qusayr. Immediately I had so many questions. She agreed to have a chat with me. As we spoke, she told me about the family’s ordeal. They had been through it all; loss and heartbreak. The children lost their father a year ago as he was out looking for food.
ignore me again. This time he replied. He told me his name was Bilal
(not real name). Breakthrough. He was responding. I was so intrigued by
this little boy I wanted to understand what his story was. The mother
then told me that Bilal had gone to the barber shop for a hair cut.
Whilst there, an explosion tore through their neighborhood shattering
the glass of the shop. Flying glass hit Bilal straight in the eye,
instantly blinding him in one eye.
his eye. His mother told me that he has lost all his confidence. He is
too embarrassed to face people because he is worried they would think he looks weird and laugh at him.
I couldn’t contain my self. Without realizing tears were streaming down
my face. This boy is only 11. He shouldn’t have to go through this. His
life is only just beginning. This is so unfair. I had to pull myself
together because I had no right to cry.
I turned to Bilal and said, I really like your hat. It looks cool. He
looked up at me and smiled.
I carried on talking to his mum and suddenly I see Bilal took his hat
off. I honestly couldn’t believe it. This boy had the face of an angel.
Even though he was smiling, he looked so sad.
On my desk, I had my camera as usual. Bilal asked me why it was there.
I said because when I see beautiful things I like to take a picture so i
can always remember them. He smiled. I asked him if I could take a
picture of him. He looked at him mother who nodded. He then looked at me and nodded back.
It was really difficult for me. I didn’t want him to think I thought he
was different. But I wanted to show people just what this savage war is
doing to innocent people, people like this 11 yr old boy who has
nothing, absolutely nothing to do with this.
For the rest of the day I couldn’t get his face out of my head. It
breaks me when I see children loose their spark, their playful
character, their childhood. I just hope and pray that Bilal will find
his confidence again. I hope that he will realize just how strong he is
for waking up everyday, getting out of bed and going outside, even if he
is under a hat. I am not sure I will be this strong.
