Footage of a BBC reporter’s impromptu reunion with a refugee family she last saw two years ago in Syria has been leaving viewers in tears.
Lyse Doucet was reporting from a park in Toronto, Canada, when she happened to glimpse the Sabbagh family.
In the emotional clip, retweeted more than 1,100 times, Doucet runs towards the Syrians, embracing them all, crying with joy and saying: “Welcome to Canada!”
They last met in the Syrian capital in 2014 under very different circumstances.
Doucet described the encounter as a “sweet surprise”.
Canada has taken in more than 30,000 refugees in the past year.
The picnic, held in a park in Toronto, brings Syrians together with the local people in order to help them settle in, the BBC reports.
Doucet has been praised for the reunion, with some viewers admitting the clip left them in tears.
One of the children, Daad, was 11 years old when she last saw Doucet.
In footage from two years ago, the family explains how they were “living as if waiting for death”.
Daad told the BBC in 2014: “In my dreams I see the ghosts of my friends.
“I see people that were shot but who are still alive. And some had their heads cut off.”
But now she “forgets the nightmares” and is happy. She has her own bedroom and is excited about her new life in Canada.
Daad says: “Everynight I see that tomorrow I will go and play, tomorrow I have school, tomorrow I have everything.”
She adds: “Now Canada is my country and home.”
The heartwarming scenes are in stark contrast to the fear-mongering adopted by some prominent figures in the US.
On Tuesday, Donald Trump Jr made a distasteful quip about Syrian refugees, likening them to poisoned Skittles.
The candy company was forced to get involved, clarifying: “Skittles are candy. Refugees are people.”
His comments sparked outrage, with some labelling it a “ridiculous fear-mongering analogy.”.
