Bana Alabed, the seven-year-old girl who tweeted from Aleppo, wants to become a teacher
Children in conflicts, Education in emergencies
Safe in Turkey after being evacuated from the war-torn Syrian city, the girl who captured world headlines has told how she wants to help other children.
Bana Alabed, the seven-year-old girl who made global headlines by tweeting from the war-torn Syrian city of Aleppo, has revealed she dreams of becoming a teacher.
Safe with her family now in Turkey, she said: “When I grow up I want to become a teacher and go back to Aleppo and teach the children of Aleppo.”
With the help of her mother Fatema, Bana told more than 360,000 followers of her Twitter account about life in the city from September onwards.
She shared pictures and videos, sometimes filmed in the rubble of her bombed neighbourhood.
In an interview with Reuters news agency, Bana said: “I asked my father to film me near my school … and I asked him if it was okay to tweet it. We used Twitter to make the voice of Aleppo children reach the world.
This is our house, My beloved dolls died in the bombing of our house. I am very sad but happy to be alive.- Bana pic.twitter.com/9i0xxJrQtD
— Bana Alabed (@AlabedBana) November 29, 2016
“There was bombing and our house was bombed but we survived, we felt afraid and went down the basement.
“There were a lot of stones and dust. We were about to die, but thank God we survived. My school and my garden were bombed. I miss my house.”
Bana was evacuated from Aleppo last month to Turkey, where she and her family met President Tayyip Erdogan at his palace in Ankara.
Asked about her new life in Turkey, Fatemah – who is a teacher – said in English: “When we hear (the) sound of car that’s hurried, we think it is the sound of bomb so we (freeze).
“But I am happy that my kids now live in peace and have time to think about their future and maybe I will make them go to school.”
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