“Good afternoon world, I am lucky to be alive after it rain bombs all the night. - Bana #Aleppo.”
These are the words of Bana Alabed, the 7-year-old girl trapped at the centre of the Syrian conflict, in besieged East Aleppo.
With the help of her mother, an English-language teacher, Bana writes of her fears, dreams and daily life, providing an intimate look into the ongoing conflict and its effects on civilians, and Syria’s children in particular.
Pictures of Bana reading and drawing with her brothers, or smiling outside in the rain, are interspersed with calls for peace, tweets of the constant bombings,and images of homes and streets destroyed. One video shows Bana standing by a window, hands over her ears as bombs rain down close to the family home. Another tweet simply reads, “we are dying.”
Yet Bana’s indomitable spirit remains, tweeting everyday and asking‘’how are you my friends?,’ to her thousands of followers, raising awareness of the conflict and its human impact, while drawing support from children throughout the world. One re-tweeted image shows a young Japanese boy, holding up a sign reading: ‘We pray for you Bana,’ another a French girl holding up a sign, “Love Bana.”
Writing under the twitter handle @alabedbana, Bana has already gained a mass following. Having started tweeting in September, she now has over 75 thousand followers.
I just want to live without fear _ Bana #Aleppo
— Bana Alabed (@AlabedBana) October 12, 2016
Morning, we are still alive but are you waiting us be dead as all our next houses are bombed now?. -Fatemah #Aleppo pic.twitter.com/Y3xzITYUdz
— Bana Alabed (@AlabedBana) October 6, 2016
Bana's home in the besieged districts in eastern Aleppo have been under constant bombardment from Russian and Syrian warplanes, an onslaught that has left hundreds dead and over 1000 wounded. The few remaining hospitals, which have themselves been repeatedly targeted and bombed out of service, are struggling to cope.
A Russian-announced ceasefire that came into effect last Thursday in Bana's city, and expired Saturday. But for citizens it's offered little in the way of relief. The Red Cross reported that no civillians were evacuated and their team was unable to enter rebel-held eastern Aleppo, adding that there was mortar shelling and sniper fire.
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