The story of a picture that changed the life of a “Pens Seller”

Abdel Halim Al-Attar went out to sell pens as usual, without imagining that his picture of him carrying his daughter would change his life in a way he did not imagine, after it received a great spread on social networking sites, followed by a donation campaign via the Internet that exceeded all expectations.

A picture of a Syrian refugee selling pens in the streets of Beirut, carrying his daughter on his shoulder, succeeded in attracting attention, in an unimaginable way, to the issue of the refugee of Palestinian origin. And the image of Abdel Halim Al-Attar, who is carrying his daughter, Reem, sleeping on his shoulder, and wandering in the street to sell pens, spread widely on social media after a person posted it on Twitter.

This image affected the site of the pioneers of the communication sites, including the Icelandic Jesor Simonarsson, who started a fundraising campaign for Abdel Halim that began under the slogan: “Let’s search for him and buy all the pens he is trying to sell.” Of course, Al-Attar did not follow the interest of social media pioneers in his story, but he was surprised by a person on the street calling him and telling him that the world had become preoccupied with his story. Al-Attar said in an interview with “Sky News” that he did not believe it at first, but also felt fear.

Simonarsson, who is based in Oslo, launched a fundraising campaign for Attar. The campaign exceeded all expectations, as it raised more than 155,000 dollars in just four days, and involved people from 89 countries. When Al-Attar found out, he said he couldn’t believe what had happened and felt like he was in a dream.

Al-Attar worked for several years in a factory in Damascus, then left the Yarmouk camp near Damascus with his wife and two children after the situation in Syria became tense, especially since the situation of the Palestinians in Syria was very difficult. On the one hand, they face accusations of supporting Bashar al-Assad, and on the other hand, some accuse them of belonging to the opposition. Al-Attar wants to use the donation money for the education of his two children and said he will try to help other refugees who are suffering from difficult living conditions like him.

Al-Attar not only reaped feelings of sympathy from the pioneers of social networking sites, but some criticized the idea of ​​collecting these large sums for the benefit of one person, while there are many who suffer from similar situations.