LONDON– Born in Hampshire, U.K., Neil Gaiman is a world-renowned writer of novels, short comics, graphic novels and a plethora of other literary pieces.

Having won numerous literary awards and honors for books such as “Coraline” and the “Wolves in the Walls”, Neil Gaiman has earned himself a top spot among the best English writers of all time. Fans and critics of Neil Gaiman alike have expressed numerous times that he has the literary prowess to captivate audiences within his mesmerizing fictional worlds with exceptional grace and ease.

Though what many critics and fans of Neil Gaiman fail to realize is his recent philanthropy regarding the Syrian refugee crisis is just as captivating as the fictional worlds within his stories.

The Syrian refugee crisis is the migration of 11 million Syrian refugees who are fleeing to other countries in order to escape the Syrian civil war. Since the eruption of civil war in 2011, the 13.5 million Syrian citizens still within the nation are in dire need of humanitarian aid with an additional 6.6 million Syrians classified as internally displaced.

In 2014, Neil Gaiman made a trip to visit Syrian refugee camps located in Jordan with the assistance of the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Partnering with an English fashion designer, Georgina Chapman and her husband and film producer Harvey Weinstein, Neil Gaiman set out to document the experiences of Syrian refugees on behalf of the UNHCR.

Gaiman, Chapman and Weinstein visited the Zaatari and Azraq refugee camps where they were able to document survival stories as well as share heartfelt discussions with the many displaced refugee people of Syria.

Most notably, Gaiman interviewed a couple by the name of Abu and Yalda Hani who explained the reasons as to why they left their home behind in Syria.

Abu Hani explicates that before the civil war, he owned a humble supermarket within the country of Syria. However, when the “officials” in charge of operations within his hometown came to his store, they proceeded to decimate his shop. The “officials” took detergent and mixed it into the grains while taking all of his stock. Despite these atrocities, Abu Hani reopened his shop using all of his savings in order to restock the inventory of the store.

Shortly after, the “officials” once again revisited Abu Hani and this time shut his store down permanently.

His wife Yalda, told Gaiman and his team how she has witnessed the overwhelming amount of people and family members who have died during the conflict. Yalda recalled how local news networks would broadcast dead bodies on television in order for relatives to find their loved ones. On one particular broadcast, Yalda’s husband remembers seeing a cousin’s severed head during the televised event.

Moreover, Yalda explains to Gaiman how negatively the civil war has impacted her own mother. Yalda states that her mother has gone mad simply by looking for her vanished sons. Yalda’s mother would travel from multiple police stations to hospitals asking if they knew the whereabouts of her children. Sadly, police officials became so frustrated with Yalda’s mother’s constant questioning, that they took her son’s names and classified them as deceased in order to keep her from asking.

The family states that the journey into Jordan was incredibly violent and painful. While they were fleeing, Abu Hani was kicked, punched, concussed and bloodied from checkpoint guards that he had attempted to bribe. The guards eventually let the family pass, but they had taken all of their money, leaving the family without any means of purchasing goods. Abu Hani, Yalda and their children all state that fleeing to the country has left them penniless and distraught. Yet, the family is grateful that they haven’t been killed, imprisoned, or have gone missing like so many other friends and family members.

After hearing similar stories to those of Abu Hani and Yalda, Neil Gaiman returned home where he has and still continues to advocate for UNHCR. In collaboration with UNHCR, Gaiman has produced a video for UNHCR called “3 Million Reasons Why Your Heart Will Break in One Video.” He hopes that this video will illuminate the hardships faced by Syrian refugees in order to get better funding for the UNHCR.

On multiple occasions, Neil Gaiman has reached out to fans on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, advocating and asking for donations for Syrian refugees.

Gaiman also uses his own personal website journal where he writes about his experiences during his visit to the Syrian refugee camps in order to bring awareness to their current condition.

Musician, songwriter and wife of Neil Gaiman, Amanda Palmer, has also aided in the cause to helping Syrian refugees. She has provided Gaiman with beautifully evocative musical pieces for his advocacy videos as well as shared his experiences on her personal blog.

Currently, Neil Gaiman continues to focus as much effort on his advocacy as he does with his literary masterpieces. If Neil Gaiman continues to attract his countless fans towards advocating and donating, then substantial efforts can be made in the lives of Syrian refugees.

– Shannon Warren

Photo: Flickr