Former refugee finds the man who gave her a bike more than 20 years ago

I don’t often directly repost stories on this blog. As a luddite, I am also very wary of social media. But amongst the doom and gloom of news reports, husband found this gem of humanity. It is the story of a former refugee, Mevan Babakar, who was given a bike by a refugee camp aid worker. 20 years on, she still remembers the kindness of the man and the joy of riding the bike. Mevan recently used Twitterverse to track the man down. Although this account is more about the power of Twitter and doesn’t have many details about the bike or what happened after she located him, I still love the idea that the simple gift of a biycle to a child can have such a profound and long-last impact.

Previously, this blog has posted about refugees issues and bicycles. With so much political and social insecurity and misinformation about refugees, it is lovely to hear a more personal and caring story of genuine connection, community and sharing.

It is also a reminder to make the effort to say thank you and/or recognise those who help and support us. Some valuable lessons for us all. This story is written by Maani Truu and was published in Australia by SBS online today. Enjoy! NG.

Thousands of people have come together from across the globe to unite a former refugee and the aid worker who bought her a bike.

A blurry film photo, a location and a touching Twitter post launched an international hunt to find a man who gifted a young refugee child a bike “out of the kindness of his own heart” more than twenty years ago.

Now, after more than 3,000 retweets and thousands of messages, London woman Mevan Babakar is set to meet the man who made her “five-year-old heart explode with joy” in person.

On Monday, the 29-year-old former refugee posted her quest to Twitter hoping someone would recognise the man who worked at a refugee camp in the Netherlands when she was a child living there in the 90s.

“Hi internet, this is a long-shot BUT I was a refugee for 5 yrs in the 90s and this man, who worked at a refugee camp near Zwolle in the Netherlands, out of the kindness of his own heart bought me a bike,” she wrote.

“My five-year-old heart exploded with joy. I just want to know his name. Help?”

In under 24 hours, the post garnered thousands of responses from around the world and on Tuesday evening, Ms Babakar shared the exciting news.

“Guys, I knew the internet was great but this is something else,” she said.

“We found him!”

Ms Babakar, who was born in Baghdad, Iraq, to Kurdish parents, also said she was not the only refugee to be helped by the unidentified man, known only as “Ab”.

“I’ve also had other refugees reach out to me and tell me that he and his wife helped them too! Their kindness has touched so many lives,” she wrote.

“One woman said ‘they weren’t friends to me, they were family’.”

According to BBC News, Ms Babakar and her parents fled Iraq during the first Gulf war, passing through refugee camps in Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Russia before spending a year at the one near Zwolle between 1994 and 1995.

Ms Babakar is now a tech expert, who currently lives in the UK and she has travelled back to Zwolle to research her family’s past.

Text and all images: SBS News.