The refugee father and sleeping daughter duo who captured the Internet's heart last week want to share the massive crowdfunding donations with others.
After the photo of Abdul carrying his sleeping daughter Reem over his shoulder while selling pens on the streets of Beirut went viral, Gissur Simonarson started a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo in hopes of raising $5,000 for Abdul and his children.
In less than 15 hours, more than $40,000 had been raised. Now, four days into the two week campaign, more than $150,000 has been contributed. This amount of money will drastically change the life of Abdul and his two children, but he doesn't want to keep it all for himself.
Abdul plans to pay for his two children's education with the money while also setting up an education fund for other refugees in similar situations, according to The Independent.
According to the Indeigogo page, “Abdul is a Palestinian Syrian from the Yarmouk refugee camp, probably one of the worst places to live in Syria right now. He is a single father with two children, Abdelillah (boy) 9 years old, and Reem (girl) 4 1/2 years old.”
The funds continue to pour in and the campaign will continue to run. If you’d like to contribute, visit the crowdfunding page here .