Drowned boys' aunt mourns tragedy
Dozens of white balloons drifted over Vancouver's harbor to honor the young Syrian boys whose deaths at sea sparked worldwide outrage about the refugee crisis.
The boys' aunt, Tima Kurdi, stood looking at the sky on Saturday afternoon as she and other mourners let go of the balloons, which had photos attached of 3-year-old Aylan and 5-year-old Ghalib.
Kurdi said she hopes to bring the rest of her family to Canada, which she made home more than 20 years ago.
Her brother, Abdullah, isn't ready to leave his Syrian hometown of Kobani, where his sons and wife Rehanna were buried on Friday, Kurdi said. They drowned after piling into an overloaded boat in Turkey headed for the Greek island of Kos. Her brother was among the few survivors.
"One day, I will bring him here. He cannot be by himself there," Kurdi said.
Family, friends and strangers on Saturday packed a small theater for a memorial service.
Kurdi tearfully recalled the last phone call Ghalib ever made to his grandfather, the night before he boarded the boat.
"He said to him: 'Can you bring your truck here and take me? I don't want to go with them to the water,"' she said.
(China Daily 09/07/2015 page12)
