Syrian Toddler Reunited with Family after Being Left During Shelling

It was a happy reunion this week for one Syrian family.

A 2-year-old Syrian boy was reunited with his parents after he was inadvertently left behind in Damascus when the family fled shelling, and presumed dead.

The family had left Syria and sought asylum in Cyprus when they discovered their son was alive.

Anchor Marco Werman finds out more from Poly Pantelides, of the English language newspaper The Cyprus Mail.

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Marco Werman: I’m Marco Werman, and this is The World, a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH Boston. The fighting in Syria can be summarised with some big numbers. Thirty thousand dead, hundreds of thousands displaced, perhaps as many as two million needing help of some kind. But what we are about to share with you now is the story of one little boy from Syria, a two year old toddler inadvertently left behind in Damascus as his family fled shelling in the Syrian capital. When the parents discovered their son wasn’t with them, they assumed he had died. The family left Syria in August and sought asylum on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Then they got the news that their boy had survived and incredibly, they were reunited. Poly Pantelides is with the English language newspaper, the Cyprus Mail. She explains how the toddler got left behind in the first place.

Poly Pantelides: It is an amazing story and you would think that they would be holding onto their child for dear life but unfortunately they had three of them and there was a lot of chaos, their house was being bombed and they just assumed that one of the extended family had the youngest with them and it was only when they got to a safe place and that they realized that they had left their boy behind.

Werman: So who was caring for him? Was it indeed somebody from the extended family?

Pantelides: Well, the boy was left behind in the ruins for quite a while, until a random family found him and handed him over to the rebels, who then went round looking for the boy’s family and ended up at a refugee camp, where a family friend was able to identify the boy as the lost toddler.

Werman: Did the parents think he was dead? What was their sense of what had happened to him?

Pantelides: Well the parents just thought the boy was dead. They stayed at the same place for a while but there was no way for them to go back and the road was blocked, there was a lot of fighting, they were isolated and cut off from their home and they just assumed that there would be no way for a two year old to survive in ruins in a war zone by himself. So they just assumed the boy was dead and eventually came to Cyprus and asked for asylum.

Werman: When did they find out that their son, Bushr Al-Towashi, was alive?

Pantelides: So, they arrived to Cyprus in August, in early August . About a month afterwards they found out that their boy was alive but it took them quite longer for them to get reunited with the boy. They had to figure out how to bring the toddler to Cyprus.

Werman: Right. Obviously they couldn’t go back to Syria, to Damascus to get him.

Pantelides: Exactly.

Werman: What have you heard about the reunion? I mean this was announced today but when did the actual reunion happen?

Pantelides: Well Marco, the reunion, the father flew to Lebanon to pick up his son and the rest of the family stayed behind waiting for the boy. The father was due to return yesterday, on the Thursday from Lebanon, which is where they could actually fly that was a safer place for them to pick up the boy, to Cyprus, where a film crew was waiting for them. The media received word of this and they were there and there were cameras there waiting for the boy and the father and obviously the family had no idea, so you can imagine how overwhelmed they were. Just, you were reunited with your boy and then you’ve got cameras asking you how you feel.

Werman: Yeah, what about the boy himself? What was his reaction when he finally saw his Dad? I can’t even imagine.

Pantelides: The way it was related to me was that the boy was ecstatic and was just talking and bubbling and shouting and just seemed to be a bit overwhelmed and confused. The Mom was very close to the boy, she was hugging his hand, she was trying very hard not to cry, wiping away her tears on occasion and the older brothers were playing and they were all just very happy to be together and I think a bit anxious to just be by themselves.

Werman: You know throughout the whole Syrian uprising, we’ve seen pictures of children killed, of babies killed. I imagine that there are many stories like that of Bushr Al-Tawashi. Kids who have just gone missing and may not be dead.

Pantelides: Exactly, but the thing is as a parent, of course, you hope but you keep telling yourself that you have to let go of that hope that you have to carry on. Such as this family, they at some point they said, well our boy is dead, we have to look after our other children. So let’s go to Cyprus where we can be safe. So, I can see it being very tricky for families because you don’t want to let go of hope but you know that rationally, your child might be, in all likelihood, is dead.

Werman: Poly Pantelides with the English language newspaper, the Cyprus Mail, telling us the story with the happy ending about Bushr Al-Tawashi, who’s been reunited with his family that fled Syria. Thank you very much, Poly.

Pantelides: Thank you.

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