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| Alan (left) and his brother Ghalib |
I don't normally comment about things in the news – this is primarily a hobby blog so should stay light-hearted – but I had to talk about this.
It was Wednesday evening when I saw the images of little Alan Kurdi washed up on a beach in Bodrum, Turkey – a place I did a photoshoot at many years ago. They are heart-wrenching and deeply disturbing. As the father of a little boy myself the photos have absolutely shredded me up inside and I've been haunted by it for the past couple of days. I get choked up every time I see the photos but I want to read more about Alan and the circumstances that led up to the situation in the photographs. For some reason I feel the need to find out who he was.
If you want to see the photos they can be found here, but I warn you they cannot be unseen and they are not pleasant.
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| The boys with their father Abdullah |
Now, there is lots of debate about why it happened and pointing fingers to place the blame and I'm not interested in discussing that. This kind of thing probably happens on a daily basis somewhere in the world and it's easy to become indifferent to it all, but this time something seems different. Maybe the graphic images depicting the reality of things has struck a chord the world over. Will it have a lasting effect, who can say? It has had a huge impact on me personally.
I just want to take a bit of time to think about Alan and his brother Ghalib, two little boys who probably didn't understand what was going on and lost their lives in the darkness attempting a 2 mile boat journey in a tiny dinghy with the promise of a better life in Europe.
They are due to be buried back in their home town of Kobane in Syria this afternoon.
Rest in peace little angels.