Refugee whose picture went viral, earns $66,000 and still counting

THE photos of this father and child went viral after they were posted two days ago on Twitter by activist Gissur Simonarson.

More than $17,000 has been raised in just three hours to support a Syrian refugee pictured selling pens in Beirut, Lebanon, while carrying his sleeping daughter. As at Sunday, donations had increased to $66,000 and still counting.

In the heartbreaking images, the man offers out a handful of pens, clutching a plastic bag of more pens while his little daughter sleeps wrapped over his shoulder.

The photos of the father and child went viral after they were posted two days ago on Twitter by activist, Gissur Simonarson.

He was then inundated with requests to help the man and so Gissur, based in Norway, announced he was going to try to find him.

He launched a Twitter account named #BuyPens and within 30 minutes, someone on Twitter contacted Gissur saying he saw the man everyday around his house.

Incredibly, 24 hours later, the man and his daughter were identified as single dad-of-two, Abdul and his daughter, Reem, 4 and a-half-years old.

Gissur launched a crowd-funding page to raise money to help Abdul start a new life for his family. Amazingly, in the first 30 minutes Gissur’s goal of $5,000 was raised.

He wrote: “We have reached my goal of $5,000 in the first 30 minutes. This was never meant as a cap, just something to start with. Let’s make sure that Abdul and Reem can really start a great new life. All extra donations will of course go directly to them as well.”

The fundraising total has reached more than $17,000 in three hours and continues to go up as it reached up to $66,000 on Saturday evening.