Hardship of Life
by Archbishop Cranmer:
Meet Munzir al-Nazzal and his five-year-old son Mustafa. They live in Reyhanli, in the Turkish province of Hatay, at the border with Syria.
Munzir lost his right leg as he walked through a bazaar in Idlib, and out of nowhere came a bomb which blew him to pieces.
Mustafa was born without legs or arms. His mother was prescribed drugs while she was pregnant, after being poisoned by nerve gas released during the war with Syria.
The photograph is called Hardship of Life, and it was taken by Turkish photographer Mehmet Aslan, who won Photo of the Year at the Siena International Photo Awards with a moment of joy in profound adversity.
The Washington Post tells you more, and yet it tells us nothing.”We wanted to bring attention to this,” said Aslan, who hopes the image will highlight the refugee child’s quest for prosthetics. “The boy always has lots of energy. The father seems to have given up.”
There is no link for giving to this worthy cause; no pointer to a campaign to help Mustafa, who, at five, will be full of life and play as he rolls all day on the carpet. Rolling is fun when you’re five. But how will his life be at 10? Or 15? What education will he have on Syria’s border if he cannot write? What life will he have when his adoring father is no longer there to throw him in the air and catch him with laughter and smiles?
“We’d give anything to give him a better life,” said Zeinab, Mustafa’s mother.
Please right-click links to open in a new window.
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
