A single tweet by an Icelandic programmer morphed into a fundraising campaign for a Syrian refugee proves the power of the internet. Since Thursday the campaign has raised 142,000 USD (127,200 EUR) for the man and his family.
A photograph and a tweet
Gissur lives in Norway where he works as a programmer for a company called Puzzlepart. He is also of three founders of a website called Conflict News which covers news stories about conflict zones around the world. On Tuesday, August 25, he tweeted a photograph of a man selling pens in the street. Gissur told the local news site visir.is that there was something about the photograph which touched his heart:
“I saw photographs of the man, where he was standing in the street trying to sell pens to feed and clothe his family. There was something about the photographs which touched me, so I re-Tweeted them myself. Soon the photograph had been re-tweeted more than three thousand times, and I had gotten a number of questions about the man in the photograph.”
A single dad on the run
With the help of his Twitter followers Gissur was able to locate the man, whose name is Abdul, he is a single dad with a nine year old son and a four year old daughter in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus. “It came as a total surprise to me,” Gissur told visiri.is. “Initially I just wanted to find someone who could help the man. Get him some food and clothing, but this quickly became much, much bigger.”
Finally found him =) Been a lot of work, but it was worth it! Now lets help them! https://t.co/Fcg59KTbbh pic.twitter.com/SjIDmytCeG
— Gissur Simonarson CN (@GissiSim) August 27, 2015
Gissur set up an Indiegogo crowdfunding page “Help Abdul and Reem start a new life”, to collect money for the man, to help him start a new life. The initial goal was set at 5,000 USD. Currently the campaign has raised more than 142,000 USD. UNICEF has agreed to help Gissur in getting the money raised to Abdul and his family. The money will be placed in a fund from which Abdul will receive monthly payments.
Gissur and the campaign have been covered by international media, including NBC, BBC, Daily Mail, The Huffington Post and others.
A fund to help Abdul's children and other refugees
Gissur told the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service that he had finally gotten in touch with Abdul over the weekend. “He thanked us profusely, and was very grateful.” Abdul worked at a chocolate factory before the war broke out. He fled to Egypt with his family, but his wife soon returned to Syria. He then fled to Lebanon with their two children.
UNICEF has agreed to help Gissur get the funds raised through Indiegogo to Abdul and his family. Rather than send the entire sum to Abdul, a fund will be set up which Abdul will be able to draw on monthly. Abdul has told media he will will use the money to help other refugees as well as set up a fund to pay for his children’s education.
Get involved and contribute!
You can follow Gissur and the #BuyPens Campaign on his twitter feed. Gissur's twitter feed is @GissiSim, and use hashtag BuyPens when tweeting on the story. You can also contribute to the campaign on Indiegogo.
A single tweet by an Icelandic programmer morphed into a fundraising campaign for a Syrian refugee proves the power of the internet. Since Thursday the campaign has raised 142,000 USD (127,200 EUR) for the man and his family.
A photograph and a tweet
Gissur lives in Norway where he works as a programmer for a company called Puzzlepart. He is also of three founders of a website called Conflict News which covers news stories about conflict zones around the world. On Tuesday, August 25, he tweeted a photograph of a man selling pens in the street. Gissur told the local news site visir.is that there was something about the photograph which touched his heart:
“I saw photographs of the man, where he was standing in the street trying to sell pens to feed and clothe his family. There was something about the photographs which touched me, so I re-Tweeted them myself. Soon the photograph had been re-tweeted more than three thousand times, and I had gotten a number of questions about the man in the photograph.”
A single dad on the run
With the help of his Twitter followers Gissur was able to locate the man, whose name is Abdul, he is a single dad with a nine year old son and a four year old daughter in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus. “It came as a total surprise to me,” Gissur told visiri.is. “Initially I just wanted to find someone who could help the man. Get him some food and clothing, but this quickly became much, much bigger.”
Finally found him =) Been a lot of work, but it was worth it! Now lets help them! https://t.co/Fcg59KTbbh pic.twitter.com/SjIDmytCeG
— Gissur Simonarson CN (@GissiSim) August 27, 2015
Gissur set up an Indiegogo crowdfunding page “Help Abdul and Reem start a new life”, to collect money for the man, to help him start a new life. The initial goal was set at 5,000 USD. Currently the campaign has raised more than 142,000 USD. UNICEF has agreed to help Gissur in getting the money raised to Abdul and his family. The money will be placed in a fund from which Abdul will receive monthly payments.
Gissur and the campaign have been covered by international media, including NBC, BBC, Daily Mail, The Huffington Post and others.
A fund to help Abdul's children and other refugees
Gissur told the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service that he had finally gotten in touch with Abdul over the weekend. “He thanked us profusely, and was very grateful.” Abdul worked at a chocolate factory before the war broke out. He fled to Egypt with his family, but his wife soon returned to Syria. He then fled to Lebanon with their two children.
UNICEF has agreed to help Gissur get the funds raised through Indiegogo to Abdul and his family. Rather than send the entire sum to Abdul, a fund will be set up which Abdul will be able to draw on monthly. Abdul has told media he will will use the money to help other refugees as well as set up a fund to pay for his children’s education.
Get involved and contribute!
You can follow Gissur and the #BuyPens Campaign on his twitter feed. Gissur's twitter feed is @GissiSim, and use hashtag BuyPens when tweeting on the story. You can also contribute to the campaign on Indiegogo.
