No matter what your views are regarding refugee settlement, it's hard not to tear up at seeing a Yazidi boy and his mother from Iraq, separated for three years following their abduction by ISIS terrorists, reunited with the help of the UN Refugee Agency.
The agency, also known as UNHCR, produced a 4-minute video captured the moment of reunification in Canada and sharing the harrowing backstory.
"I'm very happy" the son Emad Mishko Tamo tells an interviewer. A UNHCR representative gives his thoughts on the significance of the event, "This reunification shows that there is always hope, and that when people are feeling persecution, we need the international community, and countries like Canada need to offer them a safe space."
The narrator explains that "with the help of UNHCR [Emad] was reunited with his uncle and able to contact his mother, now living in Canada, for the first time in years." The uncle said the first phone conversation was "like Emad was waking up from the grave. He was almost dead. He had been injured in his belly. But for his mom, she was just very happy. It was like Emad was reborn."
We learn that UNHCR coordinated the reunification with the Canadian government. An agency official says, "family unity is one of the most important principles for us."
The narrator concludes, "for the first time in years, Emad can begin to let go of the past, and focus on the future."
The agency, also known as UNHCR, produced a 4-minute video captured the moment of reunification in Canada and sharing the harrowing backstory.
From ISIS Captive To Canadian Refugee
"It's been a long time since I've seen him. I'm excited but I'm very nervous. I don't know what I'm going to do when I see him," the mother Nofa Mihlo Zaghla tearfully confesses as she waits in a Canadian airport. What she does is give him an enormous hug after he disembarks from the plane."I'm very happy" the son Emad Mishko Tamo tells an interviewer. A UNHCR representative gives his thoughts on the significance of the event, "This reunification shows that there is always hope, and that when people are feeling persecution, we need the international community, and countries like Canada need to offer them a safe space."
"It Was Like Emad Was Reborn"
A narrator notes that "the smiles mask Emad's terrifying journey out of Iraq." After the family was captures, most of the family escaped but "Emad wasn't so lucky." The narrator doesn't elaborate on why, but the Canadian Press reported he suffered gunshot wounds.The narrator explains that "with the help of UNHCR [Emad] was reunited with his uncle and able to contact his mother, now living in Canada, for the first time in years." The uncle said the first phone conversation was "like Emad was waking up from the grave. He was almost dead. He had been injured in his belly. But for his mom, she was just very happy. It was like Emad was reborn."
We learn that UNHCR coordinated the reunification with the Canadian government. An agency official says, "family unity is one of the most important principles for us."
The narrator concludes, "for the first time in years, Emad can begin to let go of the past, and focus on the future."