The unfathomably tragic demise of three-year-old Alan Kurdi, a Syrian boy of Kurdish background, galvanised the world in a way that few events have when it comes to the on-going global asylum seeker crisis.
“Like most people, the photo of little Alan Kurdi being carried out of the water shook me to my core. We often read about the tragic plight of refugees but I think that picture exposed us to the reality in such a raw way that the truth became inescapable. From where I sat in my comfortable living room nursing my newborn son, the tiny child in that wrenching image could have been my own little boy. I felt overwhelmed by a profound protective instinct for him and people like him.”
“At the same time I realised that it was a complicated situation and so I read as many articles as I could about the Kurdi family. It soon became clear that various people were trying to co-opt Alan’s story for their own purposes and that lead to all sorts of claims and counterclaims about their circumstances.”
“I wanted to try to write this story from Abdullah’s perspective because ultimately I felt his quest was so relatable. I imagined that during that tumultuous boat journey, his heart cried out for Canada to embrace him and his family. Obviously, in this song, ‘Canada’ represents anywhere in the world that might be the preferred sanctuary for people like the Kurdi’s. Amongst other countries, it represents Australia which has such an abhorrent record in dealing with people seeking asylum who try to travel to our shores by boat. Some sections of the media have helped turned these poor people into criminals, but in reality they are usually exactly like us; just not lucky enough to be born into our privilege.”
100% of proceeds from the sale of the song are being donated to the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre.
