Uncles adopt the Syrian baby rescued after the earthquake that killed the rest of her family

By Ghaith Alsayed -

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 hospital and taken to her new home, where she was with her paternal aunt's family on Monday. .

The girl had been hospitalized 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."

[A new 6.3 earthquake shakes the devastated area in Turkey and Syria and causes several deaths]

Khalil al-Sawadi looks at the baby who was born under the rubble of a building that collapsed in the earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey, Monday, February 20, 2023. Ghaith Alsayed / AP

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 the six children of she.

"She will be loved more than my children because she will keep alive the memory of her father, her mother and her brothers."

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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.

[This young man recorded an emotional farewell message on his cell phone when he was buried under the rubble of the earthquake in Turkey]

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 girl was in very good health when she was discharged.

The dramatic video of the rescue of a baby who survived almost four days under the rubble in Turkey

Feb 10, 202301:12

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.

Al-Sawadi recounted how he ran out of his home when the earthquake struck and found that the building where Afraa's family lived had been reduced to a pile of rubble.

Along with other neighbors, al-Sawadi dug through the rubble in heavy rain for hours until he got tired and sat down to rest nearby.

Shortly after, someone called him to identify a dead woman found in the ruins.

He told people that she was his cousin, Afraa.

Then, they began to hear the cry of a baby and frantically removed the dirt that covered the girl, whose umbilical cord was still connected to her mother.

“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."