The human drama that has struck countries such as Iraq and Syria has made us all cringe. How can we not be moved by a drama that has mobilized nearly 60 million people displaced from their homes as a result of wars and terrorism. We are talking about the worst refugee crisis since World War II.
We will hardly be able to erase from our memory images as sad as those of the lifeless children on the Greek coast…
In spite of the drama and so much pain, it is possible to draw some positive lessons. And that is what we want to do today, tell you the story of a kitten that, although it cannot be bought with the tragedy of all those people, we think it can help to raise awareness of the situation of so many people forced to leave everything behind: their life, their country, their home, their house, their families… and also their pets.
As we learned about this cat’s story, we clearly saw a halo of hope and proof that people’s good faith can bring a smile back, especially to children.
Kundush, the refugee cat who has become a hero
Kundush is a young white cat who lived peacefully with his family in Iraq… Until the situation in Mosul became too complicated and the bloody and merciless ISIS attacks forced the family to leave the country to save their lives….
The family did not abandon Kunduch. Despite the complicated situation, the family, with their five children, took him with them on the difficult journey they undertook. Kundush was a member of the family and they didn’t want to give him up….
Everything went well, at least as well as things can go when you are making such a trip and for such reasons, until the family arrived in Turkey. There, the large number of desperate people, the pushing and shoving, the huge queues and the desperation caused the family to lose Kundush just as they were about to embark for the island of Lesbos (Greece).
The family made every effort to find him, but was unsuccessful. And Kundush, disoriented, dirty and hungry, reached the village of Skala, where other refugees decided to take care of him because they knew he was a member of a family that every day passed by desperately looking for a way to a better life.
The refugees did not know his name, so they decided to give him another name: Didas, which is the Greek name of the god Zeus. And… get ready, because this is when the magic begins.
Volunteers, who are dedicated to caring for the refugees, launched a campaign to find the kitten’s family while
after he was cared for by a foster family in Berlin who also dreamed of a reunion between Kundush and his human family.
Did they succeed? You may ask. YES!
A lot of people mobilized and even created a Twitter and Facebook profile for him. Blessed is the power of social networks! And when their human family arrived 4 months later in Norway, they discovered that Kundush was looking for them!
But that’s not the end of the wonderful thing about this story. Now that he had been found, Kundush had to make a long journey…. Once again the will of many people made it possible and once again social media was a vital tool to make it happen, as a campaign was created to fund Kundush’s travel and care to Norway. Nearly 1,700 euros were raised, allowing Kundush and his family to be reunited.
The meeting was a very emotional one…
