A photo of a distraught-looking Syrian refugee selling pens on the street while carrying his sleeping daughter triggered an online campaign that raised nearly $108,551 (about Rs 71 lakh) in 24 hours.
The picture, tweeted by Gissur Simonarson, an activist from Oslo, Norway, The picture shows Abdul Halim Attar selling pens in Lebanon’s capital Beirut, as his 4-year-old daughter Reem sleeps in his arms with her head resting on his shoulder.
Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have fled to Beirut in a bid to escape the civil war in their own country.
Soon, Simonarson was flooded with requests urging him to help, so he set out to track down the refugee with the help of Twitter users in Beirut and the hashtag #buypens. It was difficult task since Simonarson did not know who the man was or who took the photograph.
It took him two days, but he finally found Abdul Halim Attar, a single father living with his two children.
"Finally found him," the activist wrote on Twitter. "Been a lot of work, but it was worth it! Now lets help them!" he wrote.
On Thursday Simonarson started a Twitter account and a crowdfunding campaign, aiming to raise $5,000 in 15 days for Abdul.
Simonarson reached his target in a little less than 30 minutes and at the time of writing the campaign had already raised $108,551 in 24 hours.
"When Abdul heard the amount, he just broke down and started crying. He was so thankful and he kept saying thank you for all your generosity,” Simonarson wrote.
“I want to help other Syrians," Abdul said when he was told how much money had been raised
The love just keeps pouring in. Can't say thank you enough guys. Appreciate everyone donating to #BuyPens,” he tweeted.
"It's nice to see people come together and make a difference in another person's life," Simonarson wrote on his twitter feed.
