Life

Aylan's death a terrible wake-up call for world

The distressing photos of a Syrian boy washed up dead on a beach have grabbed the world's attention and helped ordinary people to identify with the plight of asylum seekers, writes Leona O'Neill

Migrants arrive at a camp in Cyprus after being rescued in the Mediterranean on Sunday Picture by Philippos Christou/AP
Migrants arrive at a camp in Cyprus after being rescued in the Mediterranean on Sunday Picture by Philippos Christou/AP Migrants arrive at a camp in Cyprus after being rescued in the Mediterranean on Sunday Picture by Philippos Christou/AP

YOU'D need a heart of stone not to be moved by the image of the lifeless body of little Aylan Kurdi washed up on the beach in Greece last week.

The child was on board a boat full of refugees trying to make it to safety in Europe. Aylan was just three years old when his mother, his father and his brother Galip made the treacherous crossing from Turkey to Greece in a bid to escape the horrors of their country, war-torn Syria.

Their city, Kobani, is in the grip of Isis, a group famed for beheading journalists and aid workers, throwing gay people from buildings and burning people alive. The city they called home is being bombed by America. You and I, as parents, would probably have done the same thing as Aylan's and tried to take their precious children to somewhere they could escape the bombings, killings, torture, the fear and uncertainty.

The parents travelled hundreds of miles across Turkey and ventured on a boat for the last two-mile stretch of sea that would have taken them to safety. Only the father of the family survived the journey. His wife and their two precious sons drowned.

Their lifeless bodies washed up like driftwood onto the beach of the Greek Island of Kos. The picture of the child's body, laying alone in the surf, went viral across the world and the world woke up.

In his last act that little boy has captured the attention of the human race. That child, not four years on the planet, put a human face to the entire refugee tragedy. He made people, who ordinarily might have just turned a blind eye because it is not happening in their world, take notice; open their hearts and push for an opening of borders.

That little dead child laying in the waves – with his chubby hands, his soft baby hair and his new shoes still laced up from when his mum put them on that morning before they left – made people realise that this could be their child, their grandchild, their niece or nephew, the child who lives next door.

That little boy made it hard to turn away. He made it hard for people to think of refugees as some sort of sub-human scroungers who are not our problem.

They are our problem, they are our brother and sisters, sons and daughters, and we need to help them.

There have been so many negative remarks made about refugees since this crisis began. Some sections of the media paint them all as scroungers. No-one puts their precious child at this type of risk if the land is not more dangerous than the sea or the back of a cramped lorry with no air just to claim benefits.

No-one leaves the home they love, travels for hundreds, sometimes thousands, of miles into the treacherous unknown if they have not exhausted every other option to keep their family from harm. If you had no other option you would do this yourself, to safeguard those you love.

I could barely look at the photos of that little boy, so like my own. Viewing images of the most innocent torn apart and destroyed by war is like taking a Brillo Pad to the soul. I could barely fathom the desperation his parents must have felt to take the most perilous of expeditions.

Some people might not care. But I do, and you do, and that's enough. I will not turn away, I will reach out my hand to them and I want our governments to do the same thing. The UK government spends £50 billion on defence every year. Instead of buying war machinery to kill, they could divert some monies into helping those impacted by acts of war. But then, perhaps, there is no money to be made in saving people.

There are things you and I can do now, today, to help those is need. The government have been bowing under pressure these past few days. People power works. Make your voice heard, sign petitions, share social media posts, offer help, collect clothes and blankets, sign petitions, demand your local councillor, your MP, your MLA does something to help.

Speak up. Shout. Every single person working together can make a difference.

Almost 3,000 people have died making the crossing Aylan did. They died suffocating in lorries, they died on the journey, they drowned on unsafe vessels that should never have been put to sea.

Their pictures, their names will never be known by us. We were too busy getting on with our own lives to take notice, to care, to act. This time we will not just walk away from Aylan, the child on the beach, or the thousands of others like him who are depending on us to reach out a hand.