When she is rescued, the girl Aja is still connected to her buried mother by an umbilical cord. The sympathy is so great that there are said to have been several kidnapping attempts from the clinic. Aunt and uncle are now the adoptive parents, but not all relatives see this as a good choice.
The little girl, who was born under rubble after the devastating earthquakes hit Syria, has been adopted by her aunt and her husband. "She will be like one of my own children. I will do everything for her," said the new adoptive father, Khalil Sawadi. Aunt and uncle had four daughters and two sons themselves. The family lost their house in the devastating earthquake and have recently been living in a tent. "I wish her a comfortable life with her new family," said the head of the clinic where Aja was treated until a few days ago.
Saying goodbye to the baby was difficult for him, says Chalid Attija. "It broke my heart." The child is now in good health. According to Attija, the responsible authorities had a DNA test done to prove that the aunt is actually related to the little one. The new adoptive parents renamed her Afraa - that was the name of the girl's deceased mother.
However, a distant relative, who asked not to be named for security reasons, sees no happy ending in the adoption. The aunt's 34-year-old husband belongs to a Turkish-backed rebel group that controls Afrin and the surrounding areas. He was therefore given the right of priority to the child, which according to the relatives would be better off with his grandfather, who is still alive. The relatives are worried that the adoptive parents would have taken in the child out of selfishness.
The girl's story had aroused sympathy around the world, and many people offered to donate to the little one. And in the end, those who have custody of the child would possibly have the private help, so the concern. Activists at the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights warned last week that Ankara-backed militias that control Afrin and the surrounding area had repeatedly attempted to kidnap the girl from the clinic. Accordingly, the armed militias promised to profit from it. The hospital manager declined to comment on the attempted kidnapping. According to the activists, he is said to have been attacked himself.
Helpers had rescued the buried baby, who was still connected to his mother with the umbilical cord, after the severe earthquake two weeks ago. It is believed that the mother died under the rubble shortly after giving birth. The father and four siblings also died in the disaster. The family lived in a place near the Turkish border. The child, also known as the "miracle baby", came to Attija's hospital in Afrin with hypothermia and covered with dust.
After years of civil war, Syria is fragmented into areas controlled by different forces. In everyday life, many Syrians are at the mercy of the bitter power struggles between the militias and with the government in Damascus. This fragmentation is currently making it enormously difficult, for example, to deliver aid to the earthquake areas.
