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| The 'miracle' baby girl born during the earthquake was protected by the military police |
When Afra was found in the rubble of a collapsed building in an earthquake in Syria, her umbilical cord was still attached to her dead mother, who had died shortly after giving birth to her baby girl.
The girl who survived the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria in February was considered nothing less than a miracle and her video captivated people around the world.
Now the girl's wounds have healed and her health has improved remarkably. Today, Aphra is six months old, a normal happy and healthy baby.
Afra's paternal grandmother and paternal grandfather are raising her with their seven children in the Syrian town of Janderes near the Turkish border.
"She is very quiet but when she smiles, she reminds me of her father and her sister Nawara," said the girl's uncle, Khalid al-Sawadi. Both of them also died in the earthquake.'
"She is with us most of the time and doesn't bother us at all," Phoopha smiles while cradling her.
On February 6, the devastating earthquake hit Janderes and at that time, Afra's mother was pregnant and gave birth to a baby girl under the rubble of her house.
He died before rescue workers could find him. Baby Afra was the only member of the family to survive the earthquake. His father Abu Radina and his four siblings also lost their lives in this earthquake.
Khalil says that when our wife saw Abu Rudina's house collapse, "My wife started screaming: 'My brother, my brother.'
Khalil vividly remembers the moment he pulled Afra out from under the rubble: 'The roof had collapsed on them. Someone called me and said they had found a woman's body. I started digging as soon as I arrived, then I heard a voice. It was the voice of baby Aphra, who was still attached to her mother. We were determined to save her, we knew she was the only memory of our family.'
Social media people shared the dramatic video of the girl being rescued, which went viral. The newborn was taken to the hospital and initially named Aya, which means miracle in Arabic.
The attending doctor said that when she was brought to the hospital, she had bruises on her body and was having trouble breathing. Six months later, the wound is now healed.
Khalil says that 'immediately after the earthquake, due to the dust rising from the debris, the girl had some pain in her chest, but now her health is much better. I took him to the doctor for a check-up and now he is 100 percent healthy.'
However, the last six months have been difficult for them. While Ifra was in the hospital, thousands of people around the world offered to adopt her, so Khalil and his wife Hala had to prove they were actually related to the girl before they would be allowed to care for her. "I felt that they did not want to hand over Afra to us," he says.
Hala's DNA test was to be done. 'At first, it was just a blood test, then about a week later they called us back. They took another blood and hair sample from my wife. It took about 10 days for us to hear about the results.
There was so much public interest in Aphra's story that Khalil and her family feared she might be kidnapped while they waited for the DNA results. He spent more time in the hospital and took extra precautions.
"Both the civil and military police helped us protect him," he says. Many people lived in the room next to Aphra and watched over her day and night.'
When the DNA results came in, they confirmed that Hala was a blood relative, her father's sister, and her paternal grandmother. Thus, the little girl was discharged from the hospital.
One of the first things Khalil and Hala did was give it a new name. They named her Aphra after her mother.
"He is now one of my children," says Khalil. I can't stay away from him for long.'
"When she grows up, I will tell her what happened and show her pictures of her mother, father, and siblings," he says. We buried them all the next day in a nearby village called Haj Sikandar, where Civil Defense had dug mass graves.'
Hala also became pregnant at the same time that Afrah's mother was pregnant and three days after Afrah's birth, Hala also gave birth to a baby girl and she named her 'Ata' after another girl who died in the earthquake. ' Kept
But his house in Janderes was so damaged that he could no longer live there. Khalil says: 'The house has got big cracks and it is not safe.
“I lost my house and my car, it was like going back to the same state of disrepair. I cannot even afford to send my children to school.
They lived in a tent in a camp for two months where life was 'very difficult, very hot and we had two children to look after.'
The family at last managed to find a house where they now live, but they fear they won't be able to stay for long.
"It's very expensive and I don't know if we'll be able to keep it as long as the landlord needs it," says Khalil.
People offered him help to go to UAE or UK but he rejected it. "To be honest, I'm worried (if I go abroad) that they might take Afra away from us," he said.
"People are living in worse conditions in Janderis," says Khalil.
His hometown was the worst affected by the earthquake and thousands of other families are in the same situation as Khalil himself.
In February, several earthquakes were felt in northern Syria and southern Turkey, killing more than 50,000 people.
In addition, at least 4,500 people have been killed in Syria, while according to the United Nations, 50,000 people have been displaced and displaced.
Delivering aid to the more than 4 million people living in rebel-held territory is a daunting task.