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'He Will Be Our Brother': 6-Year-Old Asks Obama If He Can Adopt Syrian Refugee

WASHINGTON (KDKA) -- A heartwarming letter sent to President Barack Obama by a six-year-old boy is going viral.

Alex, from New York, was one of many touched by the image of 5-year-old Omran Daqneesh. Video from Syria showed the child seemingly shell-shocked and covered in rubble.

So, Alex wrote to President Obama, hoping to welcome Omran into his family.

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"Remember the boy who was picked up by the ambulance in Syria," Alex asked. "Can you please go get him and bring him to [my home]? Park in the driveway or on the street and we will be waiting for you guys with flags, flowers, and balloons."

"We will give him a family and he will be our brother," Alex wrote. "Catherine, my little sister, will be collecting butterflies and fireflies for him. In my school, I have a friend from Syria, Omar, and I will introduce him to Omar. We can all play together."

Moved by the letter, Obama read Alex's letter at the UN summit, where he would also announce that the U.S. would accept 110,000 refugees in 2017.

The White House released the letter and a video of the boy reading his request on its Facebook page. 

Here is a full transcript of the letter:

"Dear President Obama,

Remember the boy who was picked up by the ambulance in Syria? Can you please go get him and bring him to [my home]? Park in the driveway or on the street and we will be waiting for you guys with flags, flowers, and balloons. We will give him a family and he will be our brother. Catherine, my little sister, will be collecting butterflies and fireflies for him. In my school, I have a friend from Syria, Omar, and I will introduce him to Omar. We can all play together. We can invite him to birthday parties and he will teach us another language. We can teach him English too, just like my friend Aoto from Japan.

Please tell him that his brother will be Alex who is a very kind boy, just like him. Since he won't bring toys and doesn't have toys Catherine will share her big blue stripy white bunny. And I will share my bike and I will teach him how to ride it. I will teach him additions and subtractions in math. And he [can] smell Catherine's lip gloss penguin which is green. She doesn't let anyone touch it.

Thank you very much! I can't wait for you to come!
Alex

6 years old"

 

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