While we’ve all been caught up in the Pokemon Go craze, this offers a stark reminder of those who aren’t so lucky.
A series of photographs have emerged from a Syrian news agency of children holding signs with Pokemon drawn on them which carry messages asking to be saved.
The photos reportedly come from the Revolutionary Forces of Syria Media Office, although the organisation has not yet commented on their origin.
The children in the photographs are believed to be in located in Syria, which is currently being torn apart by civil war and has seen over 4.5 million people flee the country in search of refuge. According to Full Fact, the UK has taken in 5,000 Syrian refugees in this time.
https://twitter.com/RFS_mediaoffice/status/755794882506219520
https://twitter.com/RFS_mediaoffice/status/755790710130040832
The photos are said to have been taken in the cities of Hama and Idlib, which have been hardest hit by the conflict.
Another image shows a young boy sitting next to a crying Pikachu in a building that appears to have been hit by an explosion.
https://twitter.com/RFS_mediaoffice/status/755796778348404737
Look, we all know that it is possible to think about more than one thing at a time and that just because you play Pokemon Go doesn’t mean you can’t possibly care about anything else. And Pokemon Go is doing its own great thing for people’s physical and mental health, as well as helping children with conditions like autism feel included by their peers.
But it’s worth considering too that there are some people out there who need our help, so contact your local MP and ask them why the UK only resettled 1,602 people under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement scheme (VPR) between October 2015 and March of this year – with Scotland taking responsibility for almost 40% of them.
We can do more and we should do more – and hey, maybe that good karma will help you find that Pikachu you’ve been searching for.
