Afraa survived 10 hours under rubble after her parents and four siblings were crushed to death in the earthquake in Jinderis, a town in northern Syria. When she was found, she was still attached to her mother by the umbilical cord.
At that time, her story captivated the world, and people everywhere offered to adopt her.
After spending days in a hospital in northern Syria, Afraa was released and handed over to her paternal aunt and her husband, who adopted her and are raising her along with their five daughters and two sons. Afraa was released to her aunt’s family days after a DNA test was carried out to ensure the girl and her aunt were biologically related, said her adoptive father Khalil al-Sawadi.
On Saturday, the black-haired baby enjoyed swinging on a red swing that hung from the ceiling as al-Sawadi pushed her on a swing.
“This girl is my daughter. She is exactly the same as my children,” al-Sawadi said, sitting cross-legged with Afraa on his lap.
Al-Sawadi said he spends the day in an apartment he rents, but as the sun goes down, the family goes to a tent settlement for the night, as their children are still traumatized by the quake that killed more than 50,000 people. in southern Turkey and northern Syria.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than 4,500 dead and 10,400 injured were reported in northwestern Syria due to the quake. It is estimated that 43% of the injured are women and girls, while 20% are minors between 5 and 14 years of age.
The devastating 7.8 magnitude quake was felt on the morning of February 6 and was followed by several aftershocks. Among the hardest-hit areas is rebel-held northwestern Syria, home to an estimated 4.5 million people, many of whom have been displaced by the country’s 12-year conflict that has killed half a million. of people.
When Afraa grows up, says al-Sawadi, she will tell him the story of how she was rescued and how her parents and siblings died in the devastating quake. He says that if he doesn’t do it, his wife or children will.
One day after arriving at the hospital, officials named the baby Aya, which in Arabic means “a sign from God.” After her aunt adopted her, she was named Afraa, after her deceased mother.
Days after Afraa was born, her adoptive mother gave birth to a girl, Attaa. Since then, she has been breastfeeding the two babies, al-Sawadi said.
“Afraa drinks milk and sleeps most of the day,” al-Sawadi said.
Al-Sawadi has received several offers to live abroad, but said he declines because he wants to stay in Syria, where Afraa’s parents lived and died.
Afraa’s biological father, Abdullah Turki Mleihan, was originally from Khsham, a village in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, but left in 2014 after the Islamic State group captured the village, Saleh told earlier this month. -Badran, uncle of Afraa’s father.
“We are very happy with her, because she reminds us of her parents and siblings,” al-Sawadi said. “She looks a lot like her father and her sister Nawara.”
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Mroue reported from Beirut.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
