In the early hours of September 2, 2015 a three years old Syrian boy of Kurdish ethnic background Alan Kurdi drowned in the Mediterranean Sea. Alan Kurdi and his family boarded a small plastic or rubber inflatable boat, which capsized about five minutes after leaving Bodrum in Turkey. Sixteen people were in the boat, which was designed for a maximum of eight people. They were trying to reach the Greek island of Kos, 4 kilometres from Bodrum. It was later stated on Syrian radio that the Kurdi family paid $5,860 for their four spaces on the boat, which had twelve passengers on it despite being only about five metres long. Around 5 am authorities started an investigation after an emergency call that a boat had capsized and bodies were coming ashore.
Photographs of his body quickly spread around the world, prompting international responses. Because Kurdi’s family had reportedly been trying to reach Canada, his death and the wider refugee crisis immediately became an issue in the 2015 Canadian federal election. French President Francois Hollande said that the picture must be a reminder of the world’s responsibility regarding refugees.
A week following his death, around 30 Moroccans recreated the discovery of Kurdi’s body in tribute in the Moroccan capital. In February 2016, Missy Higgins released a song titled “Oh Canada”, dedicated to Alan Kurdi. In March 2016 a huge mural of Kurdi’s dead body appeared on a wall next to the European Central Bank headquarters in Frankfurt.
Lately I have been involved with local charities that are promoting and working in education sector, last month I was invited at Eid dinner organised by one of my friend Asif Ansari, who has done a lot of work in education sector, he has built a school in Pakistani administered Kashmir. One of the speakers at the event I met was Lord Alf Dubs; he told me an astonishing story about himself which has inspired me to write this piece.
In March 2016, Lord Dubs, tabled an amendment to the Immigration Bill, which would require the UK to take in 3,000 children who had been separated from their families. This had strong support from all opposition parties and a number of Conservative MPs. And it passed in the House of Lords by a significant margin at the end of March
Alf Dubs was six when the German army arrived in Prague, and his father abruptly left for London. That was March 1939, the month the first of Nicholas Winton’s trains carrying Jewish children to safety left Czechoslovakia. His mother put the future MP and Labour peer on one of the eight trains that left Prague between then and the outbreak of war on 1 September.
His father was at Liverpool Street to meet him, after the 48-hour journey.I had a knapsack of food that I hadn’t touched throughout the entire journey so it must have been quite traumatic, he remembers. His mother was at first refused permission to leave Prague – a cause of great anxiety. She eventually got an exit visa and joined them in the UK, but not long afterwards Alf’s father died.
I would think that without any doubt I owe my life to Nicholas Winton. I think my chance of surviving and that of the others would have been pretty slim. I mean being Jewish in German-occupied Czechoslovakia was not a recipe for survival. All the other Jews we knew went to concentration camps, the ones who stayed in Prague, and the majority didn’t survive.
Alf Dubs studied at the London School of Economics before working as a local government officer. In the course of a long career in public service he has been a local councillor, an MP, Chair of the Fabian Society, Chair of Liberty, a trustee of Action Aid, Director of the Refugee Council and a trustee of the Immigration Advisory Service. He was also Deputy Chair of the Independent Television Commission from July 2000 to February 2001, a member of the Broadcasting Standards Council between 1988 and 1994, becoming Deputy Chairman in 1995, and then Deputy Chair of the Broadcasting Standards Commission until 1997.
Alf Dubs went into politics, because he realised that if it could be a force for evil it could also be a force for good. Before gaining election, Dubs stood unsuccessfully for Parliament on a number of occasions. In 1970 he stood for Cities of London and Westminster, being defeated by the Conservative Christopher Tugendhat. He also stood in South Hertfordshire in both the February and October 1974 General Elections, each time being beaten by Cecil Parkinson. Dubs was elected in the 1979 general election as a member of parliament for Battersea South and at the 1983 election for Battersea, before losing his seat at the election of 1987. From 1988 to 1995, he was director of the Refugee Council. In 1994, he was appointed as a Labour life peer with the title of Baron Dubs of Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth. He was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office from May 1997 to December 1999.He is currently a trustee of the Open University, and on the Advisory Board of The John Smith Memorial Trust, formed in 1996 to promote the ideals of democracy, social justice and good governance. He is also Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Moldova and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on European Union Enlargement.
In honour of his lifetime of commitment to Humanism and good causes. His distinguished service in the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group, his work on behalf of those with disabilities, and his heroic support of Syrian child refugees, the British Humanist Association (BHA) presented the 2016 Humanist of the Year award.
In March 2016, Lord Dubs, tabled an amendment to the Immigration Bill, which would require the UK to take in 3,000 children who had been separated from their families. This had strong support from all opposition parties and a number of Conservative MPs. And it passed in the House of Lords by a significant margin at the end of March. But when it went to the Commons in April, the Conservative government’s position was to vote against the amendment, and it was rejected by a narrow margin. It then went back to the House of Lords, where Lord Dubs reworded the amendment to read that the UK should take a specified number of unaccompanied children from Europe and that this number would be agreed later in discussion with local authorities. This again passed in the Lords with a significant majority. On 4 May 2016, ahead of the vote, Mr Cameron accepted the revised version of the amendment.
Lord Dubs is one role model I have come across of late who has proven to the world that the sky is not the limit, I have been meeting so many inspirational personalities from all over the world in the last few years, and they all have inspired and helping the hundred individually. What I have taken from all of these people that individual contribution in our own capacity matters. Every little thing helps.
Let me conclude this quoting the words of Roy Bennet:
Be the reason someone smiles. Be the reason someone feels loved and believes in the goodness in people.
The writer is a traveller and freelance writer based in UK