Afra, the “earthquake miracle” baby in Syria, 40 days old | Turkey and Syria earthquake

JANDRES, Syria – The story of the “miracle baby”, who was born under the rubble while her mother died, captivated the world when earthquakes struck southern Turkey and northwestern Syria on February 6.

Her entire family died when their house collapsed on them, and she was taken in by close relatives who lived next door. This is the story of them rebuilding their lives as baby Afraa completes 40 days – a traditional time of celebration for both the child and the mother in Syria.

Instead, baby Afra now lives with her “new family”: her aunt, 31-year-old Hala, her husband and children in a small camp set up by members of her extended family whose homes were destroyed in the earthquakes.

She has six new siblings, the eldest of whom is 10-year-old Mal al-Sham and the youngest is one-month-old Ataa, who was born two days after Afra.

The family welcomed Al-Jazeera to their simple tent to talk about the day of Afra’s birth, finding it under the rubble, and their grief over the loss of their relatives.

The little girl Afra (with the pink hat) in her uncle Khalil’s lap with her cousin Ata. Sitting around them are her cousin Shamy and her cousins ​​Maryam, left, and Duaa [Ali Haj Suleiman/Al Jazeera]
“I just learned his house collapsed.”

Khalil Shami Al-Sawadi, Hala’s 34-year-old husband, was awake when the earthquakes hit, two of his children woke up and he was sitting with them. The night was disturbing and he was anxious.

His brother-in-law, Abdullah, 26, came to have dinner with him and Hala and suggested he stay with them for a while longer and spend the night at their place. Their homes were adjacent to each other, and family members moved easily between the two.

Abdullah, also known as Abu Rudeina (Rudaina’s father, his eldest son), apologized to his sister, telling her and Soudi that he had to go see some friends and would come home afterward. Later, at around 2 a.m., Abu Rudeina changed his online status to a phrase inspired by the Qur’an: “Your death will come to you even in your home,” Al-Sawadi told Al Jazeera with astonishment in his voice.

Al-Sawadi says that when the first earthquake hit, his heart sank and he was sure the house next door had fallen on his cousin and his family. He ran outside, his fears confirmed and began digging, first with his own hands and then with equipment lent to them by a friend in Idlib. Once someone came to Sawadi and said that a part of a woman’s body had been exposed, so could he come and see if he could identify her?

Maryam to the left, and Doaa cuddling and cuddling baby Afra in her tent [Ali Haj Suleiman/Al Jazeera]

After he recognized the woman as his cousin’s wife, Umm Rudaina, and the digging efforts doubled, Al-Sawadi heard voices coming from under the rubble, and for a brief moment he wished his cousin was alive but realized the voices were coming from a baby. Soon enough rubble was moved to enable them to pull the child away from her mother’s body, and the robbed Al-Sawadi held her while one ran for a knife to cut the umbilical cord that still connected Ofra to Umm Rudaina.

By then, I knew the rest of the family had died, so I grabbed the baby and ran to the military hospital in Jandris so I could try to save her. My wife was very pregnant at the time—she went into labor two days later—and she couldn’t come with me, so did our Kurdish neighbor Umm Abduh.

“In the military hospital they told us the baby looked fine and just needed to be breastfed by a woman, but I didn’t feel satisfied with what they were saying, it didn’t make sense. So we went to Afrin and found a hospital there with a doctor who would take care of her so we could bring her home. I stayed there. days under their care.

Afra, who was named Aya by the hospital staff, is in her incubator at Cihan Hospital in Afrin, a few days after her birth. [Ali Haj Suleiman/Al Jazeera]

“she [Afraa] “She broke three ribs and there was dust in her lungs because she was born under the rubble,” Hala told Al Jazeera by phone. “We take her for regular follow-up in the hospital, but she is generally doing very well.

“I breastfeed both girls… I would never have given up on Ofra. She is my niece, my blood. Many people wanted to adopt her, but we were not going to have her. We will take care of her just like our own children,” said Hala.

Al-Sawadi echoed Hala’s sentiments: “I loved my cousin, everyone loved her, and I will take care of his daughter as if she were my own. Her father’s family wanted to take her in and adopt her, but I refused. I spoke to her grandparents and they gave us their blessing to make her one of our daughters.”

Al-Sawadi enters the family’s tent with baby Afrah in his arms [Ali Haj Suleiman/Al Jazeera]

There is a palpable sense of excitement for Ofra in the family tent, not only because she is all that is left of the extended family, but perhaps also because she has just returned from a second stage in the hospital, where she was taken in by Al-Sawadi because she was so kind. She is having difficulty breathing a few days before visiting the island with family.

I was so happy when my parents brought Ofra home. Eight-year-old Duaa told Al Jazeera.

Doaa misses her other cousins, Ofra’s older siblings, and readily recounts the names of their pets: Radona, Attawa, Nawara and Hamoudi, realizing they are gone but accepting the loss, which has been a constant companion to many in the northwest. Syria for years of civil war and strife.

“If I had to choose a favorite child now, I would choose Afra because it is a memorial to my uncle Abdullah and his family.”

Doaa holds Ofra in her arms outside the family tent [Ali Haj Suleiman/Al Jazeera]

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