JINDIRES, Syria (AP) — A baby born under the rubble of her family’s home that was destroyed by the earthquake two weeks ago in Syria has been released from the hospital and taken to her new home, where she was on Monday. with his paternal aunt’s family.
The girl had been hospitalized for hours after the earthquake on February 6. 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 earthquake along with her father and four siblings. A day after the baby arrived at the hospital, officials named her Aya, which in Arabic means “sign from God.”
Afraa’s story has been widely shared in news reports, and people from all over the world have offered to help her. Some have even expressed their intention to adopt it. However, the relatives who took her in said that, no matter how difficult the circumstances, the best place for the little girl is with her family.
On Monday, Afraa was being cared for by her uncle, Khalil al-Sawadi, who now lives with relatives in the northern Syrian city of Jindires, because his home was also destroyed in the quake. Al-Sawadi and her wife have four daughters and two sons, and Afraa will now live with her cousins.
“Now she is one of my daughters. 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 as he sat cross-legged holding Afraa and surrounded by his six children. “She will be dearer than my children because she will keep alive the memory of her father, her mother and her brothers.”
He added that days after Afraa was born, his wife gave birth to a baby girl named Attaa.
During her stay at the hospital in the nearby town of Afrin, the director’s wife breastfed Afraa.
Afrin judicial officials had taken up Afraa’s case after the little girl drew international attention and some people came to the hospital claiming to be her relatives despite having different surnames from Afraa and her mother.
For days, al-Sawadi feared that someone might kidnap her and often visited her in the hospital.
A hospital official said Afraa was released to her aunt’s family days after a DNA test was carried out to ensure the girl and her aunt were biologically related.
“It was sad and some of the nurses cried” when she was taken from the hospital, said Dr. Hani Maarouf, who has cared for Afraa since she arrived at the hospital. He added that the baby was in very good health when she was discharged.
Jinderis rescuers found the dark-haired baby more than 10 hours after the earthquake, when they were digging through the rubble of the five-story building where her parents lived.
“I will raise her so that she doesn’t feel in need of anything,” said al-Sawadi, who buys and sells cars. Surrounded by her children, al-Sawadi asked them if he should give Afraa over to those who offered to adopt her. They answered in unison: “No.”
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Mroue reported from Beirut.
