A seven-year-old Syrian girl named Bana al-Abed is being hailed as this era’s Anne Frank, having amassed more than 200,000 Twitter followers as she and her family have documented their struggle to survive in war-ravaged Aleppo. Her mother started the Twitter account in late September (in English) which shared little Bana’s fears of the nightly bombings and documented the destruction of their neighborhood while also including more familiar moments of Bana with her younger siblings. As a result, Bana “quickly became the newest symbol for the horrors unfolding in Syria,” according to the Washington Post.
We know the following via Bana’s tweets — she misses school, and has dreams of being a teacher like her mother. She recently lost a baby tooth, declaring that “the tooth fairy is afraid of the bombing here, it run away to its hole. When the war finishes, it will come.” Sadly, she has also lost friends, tweeting in September, alongside a photo of a bombed-out home, “This is my friend house bombed, she’s killed. I miss her so much.”
In recent days, the situation has become even more dire and distressing in Aleppo, and Bana’s tweets have sadly reflected this:
— My dad is injured now. I am crying.-Bana #Aleppo
— Final message – people are dying since last night. I am very surprised I am tweeting right now & still alive. – Fatemah #Aleppo
— Final message – I am very sad no one is helping us in this world, no one is evacuating me & my daughter. Goodbye.- Fatemah #Aleppo
