Newborn saved from Syria quake adopted by relatives
(21 Feb 2023) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ASSOCIATED PRESS Jinderis - 20 February 2023 1. Various of Khalil al-Sawadi carrying newborn baby outside his home 2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Khalil al-Sawadi, uncle of newborn baby Afraa Mleihan: "While I was digging, a sound came from the baby. She started screaming. I didn't think it was her. I started screaming and telling them Abu Rudaina is living, he's alive. I started moving the rubble and then I saw her and started crying. The sand was this high, it was an inch high. While I picked her up, she was still connected to the umbilical cord so I took out a razor and cut it myself. And I gave her to my cousin and told him to take her to the car quickly." 3. Various of al-Sawadi with Mleihan 4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Khalil al-Sawadi, uncle of newborn baby Afraa Mleihan: "I stayed around for 10 days until I could take the child. You know, there was a lot of legal paperwork we had to do so they could check that she is in fact related to me and she is ours. I was on edge for the whole 10 days. When we received the girl, the world could not contain my happiness." 5. Various of al-Sawadi with his children and Mleihan 6. SOUNDBITE(Arabic) Khalil al-Sawadi, uncle of newborn baby Afraa Mleihan: "Night and day, I would cry over her. I was scared someone would come take her or kidnap her. I saw that the regime wanted to take her to them so that they could claim her. Night and day I was working hard so that I could take her and I was really worried about her." 7. Various of al-Sawadi carrying Mleihan 8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Khalil al-Sawadi, uncle of newborn baby Afraa Mleihan: "She is now one of my children. She is my daughter. I will not differentiate between her and my children. In fact, she will be dearer than my children because she will keep the memory alive of her father, mother and siblings.” 9. Various of al-Sawadi carrying Mleihan STORYLINE: A baby girl who was born under the rubble of her family’s earthquake-shattered home has left the hospital and gone to her new home, where she was with her paternal aunt’s family Monday. The girl had been at the hospital since hours after the Feb. 6 earthquake. She was discharged Saturday and her aunt and uncle adopted her and gave her a new name, Afraa, after her late mother. Afraa’s mother died in the quake along with her father and four siblings. A day after the infant arrived at the hospital, officials there named her Aya — Arabic for “a sign from God.” Afraa’s story has been widely shared in news reports and people from around the world have offered to help her, with some saying they would like to adopt her. However, the relatives who took her in said that, however hard their circumstances, the best place for the infant is with family. On Monday, Afraa was being cared for by her uncle, Khalil al-Sawadi, who is now living with relatives in the town of Jinderis in northern Syria after his home was also destroyed in the earthquake. Al-Sawadi and his wife have four daughters and two sons and now Afraa will be living with her cousins. “She is one of my children now. I will not differentiate between her and my children,” al-Sawadi, who is also a cousin of the newborn’s parents, told The Associated Press on Monday while sitting cross-legged holding Afraa and surrounded by his six children. “She will be dearer than my children because she will keep the memory alive of her father, mother and siblings.” AP Video by Ghaith Alsayed =========================================================== Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
