Refugee story: Mohamed Nour

In Syria, Mohamed and his older brother both volunteered with the White Helmets, a group who help in the aftermath of bomb explosions, rescuing people from the rubble. The last time Mohamed saw his brother was when they went to rescue people after a bombing.The plane that dropped the first bomb came back a second time and bombed the same site again. Mohamed’s brother was crushed to death.

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Photo by Jo Metson Scott

As we watched the children play, Mohamed explained his decision to join the White Helmets rather than fight: “I had two choices and I had to decide one of them, so I decided I’d rather die than to kill… That’s why my eldest brother died and the second brother, that’s why he died and I thought maybe I’ll be the third one. But I could not kill.”

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Photo by Jo Metson Scott

“My mother started crying a lot when I said I was going back (to volunteer for the White Helmets). She said ‘please don’t go back, I don’t want to lose another son.’ But she understood me. If we don’t help other people, who will come and help us?”

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