Remember Alan Kurdi? That heart wrenching image of the three year-old Syrian boy of Kurdish background whose body was washed up on a Turkish beach in September was described at the time as a pivotal moment in shifting attitudes toward the plight of Syrian refugees fleeing the war in their country.
But the simple and terrible truth is that more than seventy refugee children have drowned trying to reach Greece since Alan Kurdi's death in September.
The body of the latest victim a four-year-old girl was discovered among rocks in the Turkish resort of Bodrum just a few days ago.
According to one refugee who made that ill-fated crossing but survived, a woman on board the dinghy had addressed the little girl as “Sena”. Other than that, next to nothing is known about her.
The boat on which this little girl was aboard sank just two days after I left Kos. For a week prior to this with the help of humanitarian agency Mercy Corps, whose European headquarters are in Edinburgh, I had been following the trail of Syrian refuges from the Turkey-Syria border to the Greek islands.
Looking back on that week and the refugees I met from the run down urban neighbourhoods of Izmir to the late night beach landings on Kos, it is the plight of families and young children that will stay indelibly and disquietingly etched in my mind.
I defy anyone, even the most cynical of people when it comes to the refugee crisis, to witness these exhausted, confused and often traumatised families come ashore in the middle of the night and not feel your heart go out to them.
Try to imagine yourself in their soaking wet shoes. What must it be like to have sometimes spent months or years under bombardment and at the mercy of armed groups like Islamic State, to then leave all your possessions behind taking only what you can carry as you set out on a dangerous journey towards an uncertain future?
Those of us who want to help can do so in a number of ways and on a variety of levels. Many have already donated what they can to charities when asked for the blankets, clothes and other items that will help refugees through the bitter winter that lies ahead.
These contributions have proved useful but can pose problems for humanitarian agencies long established on the ground in Syria and the region, who know the specifics of what is needed most.
Aid agencies say that by far the best advice they can give to those who want to help is simply to ask people to make a financial donation. In this way produce can be procured locally, helping to support often already fragile economies. This too allows those who understand the most pressing needs to make sure people get the right items. Winter and escalating fighting are taking a greater toll than ever in Syria and the region. Time is now of the essence if yet more young lives like those of Alan, Sena and countless other children are not to be forfeited in vain.
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