In an effort to connect with the refugee family living at the Azraq refugee camp in Jordan, Carol showed them a photo of her grandchild. She asked the translator to translate the following very carefully: “Just as my beloved grandchild has done nothing personally to deserve the security and plenty of her life, your children have done nothing to deserve the fear, lack of safety and deprivation of their life. I promise to go home and share your story so that you’re not forgotten.”[/caption]

by Elizabeth Coady

She could not shake the image.

A boy, three years old, washed up on shore like a dead dolphin or discarded plastic. Only this was A BOY. A toddler. Someone’s son. Looking like he was asleep with his tush jutting upward.

The image of a lifeless Alan Kurdi, who drowned at sea after the boat in which he and his family were fleeing Syria by way of Turkey capsized, was published in the Philadelphia Inquirer and newspapers around the globe. It transfixed millions, transcended language and culture and punctured Carol Shearon’s comfortable reality as she read the paper with her husband in her living room.

The picture haunted.

“I mean, there he was,’’ Shearon, 67, recalled. “He looked like he was in the crib; you know? His little bottom was up in the air. And he was just dead. And I looked at it and realized that my heart was broken. And that if I ignored it, it was like that broken heart would turn into scar tissue. And if you get enough scar tissue built up, nothing moves you.’’

Shearon wanted to do something. But what could she do sitting in the comfort of her Gwynedd home? She could write a check. A thousand dollars to the USA for UNHCR, the agency that raises funds for refugees for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

“And then I realized that that wasn’t enough,’’ she said. “And so, people say to me that they’re spiritual but not religious, so they don’t have to go to church ... My spirituality is very wrapped up in community, in having a group of people who are with you on this spiritual journey, so I came back to my spiritual community and said, ‘I feel this calling, and I want to do something, and I want to raise some money for this program. Will you unite with me?’’’

And that is how the Gwynedd Friends Meeting joined forces with Shearon two years ago to raise money to help fund refugee efforts by UNHCR. Propelled by Shearon’s passion, the Quaker meeting has raised $50,000 on behalf of Syrian refugees living in Lebanon and Jordan.

“It not only has helped the refugees tremendously, but it also has enlivened our meeting,’’ Shearon said a few days after organizing a mock crisis in which “refugees” were forced to make split-second decisions on what to take while fleeing their homes.

The photo of little Alan Kurdi appeared in newspapers and media around the globe and triggered international anguish and soul-searching over the plight of refugees fleeing Syria’s civil war. His body washed ashore Sept. 2, 2015, after the rubber inflatable boat that he and his family were fleeing Turkey on overturned.

According to Wikipedia, “Sixteen people were in the boat, which was designed for a maximum of eight people.’’ The vessel reportedly capsized five minutes after leaving Bodrum, Turkey, enroute to Kos in the Greek Isles. The boy’s mother and older brother also drowned at sea.

“There was something about that picture,’’ the boy’s aunt, Tima Kurdi, told BBC News in January of 2016. “God put the light on that picture to wake up the world.’’ In April, she published a book about the tragedy entitled, ‘‘The Boy On The Beach.’’

The plight of Syrian refugees and the refugee effort have become a calling for Shearon, who has traveled to Jordan on her own dime at the invitation of USA for UNHCR, a nonprofit agency that raises funds for the UN’s refugee work. Shearon speaks at schools, other Quaker meetings, Rotary clubs — anywhere they’ll listen to her talk about the plight of refugees.

The staff at USA for UNHRC — or “U for U” for short — have welcomed, even used Shearon’s devotion. They featured her volunteerism in an article on their website, profiled her in their newsletter and invited her to participate in a conference call to other donors. U for U’s 2016 revenues totaled $52 million, of which $47 million was spent on programs, fundraising, salaries and support services. About 63 cents of every dollar raised was spent directly on refugee program services and education.

“She’s such a special person, and what she is doing is phenomenal,” said Elizabeth Martin, 47, U for U’s director of community engagement.’ Nic Feeney, 36, a spokesman for the agency, said, “She’s gathering her own community and using that as a touchpoint as a way to raise money for refugees.’’

In July of 2017, Shearon traveled to Jordan for a week, where she met two refugee families and took photographs at a refugee camp in Azraq and in Varqua. The trip crystallized for her the truism that regardless of geography and ethnicity, most people want to be able to work and educate their children.

From a family of seven, mother Fatemah and son Mustafa fled Raqqa, Syria, where they had lived near family members for generations. They had no news about the fate of the father’s (Ahmad’s) brother and his family, who had stayed behind in Raqqa as it was being virtually destroyed by Assad and his Russian allies.[/caption]

“How is that any different from any of our neighbors in any community?’’ the former substitute teacher and textiles artist wondered. “These people are just like us; they have the same hopes and dreams that we do.”

Syrian refugees who qualify for subsidies receive $180 per month for a family of five, an amount that raises them above the poverty levels in their host countries.

Qualifying refugees’ irises are recorded, collected and stored in what is called the “EyeCloud,’’ and when they want to withdraw money they go to a local ATM machine that scans irises before releasing funds. (Questions about who owns the ‘EyeCloud’ and other ways it is used went unanswered.)

In their drive to do good, refugee workers can overlook the fact that America dropped 12,192 bombs in Syria alone in 2016, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, contributing to the country’s refugee crisis. Worldwide, the U.S. dropped 26,172 in seven countries – and Trump has reportedly only increased that number, using what Defense Secretary James Mattis called “annihilation tactics.”

Marks of U for U acknowledges that “as Americans we think that everything is great’’ but that the world does not share our perspective. But refugees deserve help, and for that her organization is seeking signatures on a petition they will present to the UN General Assembly in September.

And Shearon says simply, “I do not get into the politics of it.’’ And the politics wouldn’t deter her anyway. She’s found renewed purpose in advocating for refugees, saying that “with the help of the people donating to this project it’s enough to make me live with myself.

“It’s that simple. To not do anything, really? Is that an option? To read about these people in desperate circumstances and then go shopping?”

To help USA for UNHRC’s refugee program, contact moyer.shearon@gmail.com.