Image: Twitter

Aussie Pop Star Cody Simpson Has Donated His Twitter Account To An Asylum Seeker, On Behalf Of The UN

By Emmy Mack

While many Australian media outlets remain wrapped up in the comings and goings of Cody Simpson’s love life, the Aussie popstar has been doing his part to raise awareness about the plight of refugees in the middle east.

As Buzzfeed reports, the Gold Coast singer has handed over the reigns of his Twitter account, which is followed by a modest flock of 7.5 million and is thus Australia’s most-followed twitter account, to Syrian refugee, Thair Orfahli, who has been using it to recount his heart-rending tail of escape from war-torn Syria to neighbouring Lebanon, Egypt, Italy and, finally, Germany.

Giving fans the heads up overnight, Simpson announced that his account would be looking a little bit different for the next 24 hours, as he passed it to Thair to share his harrowing quest for asylum, as part of the UN-led campaign #sharehumanity, which spotlights humanitarian crises around the globe.

Thair’s tale, which took place in 2013, began unfolding overnight in a series of real-time tweets, to give Cody fans a more urgent sense how terrifying his experiences were. Even though they may not have started out that way –

But despite being just like any other uni student, studying and making new friends, Thair’s university experience was set against the backdrop of a chaotic and war-torn country.

And Lebanon wasn’t much better –

And neither was Egypt –

Finally, Thair decided to take a deadly risk and brave a journey by boat across the Mediterranean Sea to get to Italy. Known as the world’s most dangerous migrant journey, over 900 refugees were feared dead or missing in the region this year alone, and that’s based on UN-released figures from back in April.

Luckily, Thair arrived safely in Europe, but his journey didn’t end in Italy –

At the time of writing, Thair’s tale is still unfolding, and you can keep up to date with it on Cody Simpson’s official Twitter feed.

The whole thing paints a harrowing portrait of the life of an innocent person who has been forced to flee their home in fear.

And with a bit of luck, it might help more people get an understanding of the very real human side of the global refugee crisis, which is so relevant in our own country, where the phrase “turn back the boats” is uttered almost as much as “a fair go”.

Fingers crossed Scott Morrison is a Cody Simpson fan.

Watch: Cody Simpson – New Problems

Emmy Mack
Emmy Mack

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