Posted under the hashtag #SaveSyriasChildren, this video filmed from the perspective of a little girl illustrates how quickly life can change.The video was published over a year ago but is receiving renewed interest due to the fact that the flood of refugees from ISIS-torn areas has become a daily headline fixture.Friday, Amy provided an update on the increasingly dire situation:
Thousands of asylum seekers have flooded Hungary’s borders, seeking safe passage into western Europe and away from crises in places like Syria, Eritrea, and Somalia. This mass migration, however, has caused its own crisis. The European Union wasn’t ready for such a rapid and intense saturation of migrants, and the continent experienced a split with regards to how the influx should be handled. Some western countries, led by Germany and France, encouraged their neighbors to relax their policies and expand provisions for migrants; Hungary, however, was one of a handful of countries that held to its strict policies governing asylum.All that changed on Friday, when the Hungarian government backed down on its refusal to move migrants within its borders, and began busing thousands of people to the Austrian border.From WaPo:
The late-night offer came after days of efforts to repel migrants fleeing war and poverty who have streamed into Hungary in a bid to reach Western Europe, where they hope to begin new lives. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had painted his hard-line approach against the mostly Muslim asylum-seekers as a stand to preserve Europe as a Christian continent.But after a column of migrants more than a mile long streamed onto Hungary’s main highway to Austria, it appeared that authorities felt they had no alternative but to pass the challenge to their neighbor, another country that has been ambivalent about the influx.By early Saturday morning, the first asylum seekers began to walk across the border into Austria after having been dropped off by buses on the Hungarian side. The buses had picked people up at Budapest’s main train station. After initial hesitation, the crowds began to climb on board, relieved to be en route out of Hungary.At Keleti train station in Budapest, where thousands of migrants had camped out for nearly a week, the central plaza was nearly empty on Saturday morning except for a maintenance crew hosing down the site.
I first viewed this video days ago. That it’s still rattling around in the front of my mind is why I’m sharing it with you. It left a mark.
Regardless of how bad things might seem, we are abundantly fortunate that this is not our reality. But for the grace of God go I…
Follow Kemberlee Kaye on Twitter @kemberleekaye
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY