Santa Claus may come to town only once a year, but the Toy Smuggler of Aleppo comes, bearing gifts, whenever he gets a chance.

Rami Adham, a 44-year-old father of six, is a Finnish-Syrian who started a voluntary mission to bring food, medicine, water and toys for people affected by the Syrian Civil War, especially the children.

Adham, who is originally from Aleppo, has been at this mission for five years, during which he travelled to Syria's conflict zones at least 27 times. And after giving almost all he had to bring smiles and a little health to Syrian children, Adham is asking for a little help from us.

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Adham has started a page on GoFundMe where he is requesting people to pledge any financial support they can for these children, who lives remain at perpetual risk with airstrikes bombing their cities.

"This money I am raising will go to building schools inside Syria close to Turkish borders (where it is safe from constant bombing)," Adham writes on his GoFundMe page. "So I pledge to all of you humans out there, all around the world, to help me to help the ones in desperately in need."



'Nothing can stop me'

"My voluntary mission started around 5 years ago when I dedicated my life to help Syrian kids in any way I can," Adham writes. "I started by using all my savings to buy and deliver food, medicine, water and, of course, thousands of TOYS to displaced Syrian kids (all that I could carry with me)."

Even when Syria's borders were officially closed off, Adham did not quit. He started travelling to Aleppo through different routes, carrying all the toys he can.

"Toys where all I had on me (couldn't let anything stop me), in addition to the money I managed to collect and raise from Finland to help buying all necessary food, medicine, etc. inside Syria," he writes.

A report on The Telegraph says Adham brought 25 Teddy bears and 36 Barbie dolls on his first trip to Syria. As he began distributing among children, he realised something that moved him.

"We'd brought food, but when we started giving away the toys, it created a huge fuss," he told the daily. "Kids were coming from all over. I realised they weren't thinking about food they just wanted a toy."

Adham writes in his GoFundMe page that it is "everyone's right to provide and receive help whenever it's needed."

"It's also a sign of humanity to care for those who are not so close to us in our everyday living and that's why I signed up up here. To reach out to all of you guys with a heart," he writes.

Adham's target is to collect 20,000 euros, which is around Rs 15 lakh. Right now, the collected amount is 7,769 euros.

If you want to help Aleppo's Toy Smuggler's noble cause, click here to donate.