US boy offers home to Syrian refugee in letter to Obama
The White House released a video of six-year-old boy Alex from New York who wrote Barack Obama a very touching letter, asking him to bring a young Syrian refugee to America so that they could live with his family.
Alex, from New York, wrote the letter after seeing the photograph of bloodied and dazed Omran Daqneesh, which prompted outrage around the world.
Just like many people around the world, Alex was touched by images and video of Omran Daqneesh, dusty and bloodied, as he was being loaded into an emergency vehicle following a bomb attack in Aleppo, Syria.
"We will give him a family and he will be our brother. Catherine, my little sister, will be collecting butterflies and fireflies for him," says Alex in his letter.
"In my school, I have a friend from Syria, Omar, and I will introduce him to Omar. We can all play together."
Alex also says he wanted to share his bike and teach Omar how to ride.
The video was recorded after Obama shared Alex's words at the United Nations summit this week.
"Those 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 said in a Facebook post accompanying the video. "We should all be more like Alex."
Here's the transcript:
Dear President Obama,
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!
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