The story of Rayan: A tragedy and a lesson

A unique accident, tragedy and ordeal has gripped Moroccans, and alongside them millions of Arabs, Muslims and others, who followed the rescue operation for the child Rayan Oram. The boy had fallen 32 metres down a dry well shaft, no more than 30 centimetres wide.

The tragedy took place in a remote village in the mountains of northern Morocco, and could easily have passed unnoticed. After all, how many innocent children have we seen fall victims to tragedy and death across the world, and the Arab world in particular - in occupied Palestine, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen? Children who have died, yet whose faces remain fixed in our minds' eye, remind us of them and their tragedies.

5-year-old Rayan was pulled out of the well on Saturday 5 February, after a colossal effort by workers, experts and technicians, who spent four frantic days striving to rescue him. During those four days, the world held its breath, spurred on by the desperate hope that a happy ending might be just around the corner.

The four days were emotionally gruelling for all those following Rayan's story, not only for his family and relatives, or his broken-hearted mother, whose pain and grief at her son's ordeal were all-consuming.

"Tears streamed down the cheeks of the reporters who had been following the events – they didn't try to control them, breaking down openly in front of the cameras as the atmosphere, so briefly ecstatic, became funereal"

As he was carried out the crowds erupted in joy, but it was short lived: a few minutes later the Moroccan Royal Cabinet announced that the child had died, with King Mohammed VI extending his condolences to the family. Jubilation turned into a shocked silence, happiness gave way to sorrow, and condolences swiftly replaced congratulations.

Tears streamed down the cheeks of the reporters who had been following the events – they didn't try to control them, breaking down openly in front of the cameras as the atmosphere, so briefly ecstatic, became funereal.

Rayan was gone, but not before he had revived hearts which had grown cold, stirred the emotions of millions, and gathered them around him. His ordeal, may God bless him, became a focal point for humanity, pulling towards it decent people from all over the world.

Prayers were held in mosques and churches; hands were raised skywards, beseeching God for his mercy, crowds flocked to the place he had fallen, praying and calling for divine intervention. We saw a teenager who had come from his village in Chefchaouen "to save Rayan" in tears on being told he couldn't go down the narrow shaft as he would be risking his life.

Hundreds of isolated children are stranded in Calais, trying to cross to England. Lacking access to rights, many live in dire conditions, on the streets and in makeshift camps around the city 👇https://t.co/zq6Yf3mAu7

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) February 9, 2022

He protested that death would come at its appointed time and place, pleading to be allowed down the well shaft before it was too late. We saw another young man volunteer with the rescue team, who tried to lower him into the well, but to no avail. We saw the professional well digger Ali Sahraoui, who made his way from southern Morocco to volunteer his time digging alongside the rescue team.

We watched women from the village cooking and distributing food for free. We witnessed countless others, who travelled long distances from the length and breadth of Morocco to help. We saw workers digging ceaselessly day and night, never stopping apart from when exhaustion overcame them. We saw engineers and specialists deliberating the best way of reaching the child without risking his life.

We saw children from Gazan, Syrian and Lebanese camps holding up signs to express their solidarity: children desperately in need of solidarity themselves, who are at risk of freezing to death in the camps, as some of them have.

In short, we saw a wave of solidarity sweep through the world – poets wrote poems, the pious prayed to God, and the hearts of mothers everywhere ached. Out of the emotions of sympathy and tenderness that swept the world, we saw the most precious gifts of our common humanity shining.

Conversely, alongside the manifold flashes of deep empathy and compassion, we saw the shameful behaviour of those whose selfishness had eclipsed any semblance of humanity, like those who turned up at the site, hoping to increase their following on social media platforms.

We saw journalists lying and spreading false news on purpose, their sole agenda being the first to "break the story"; we even saw reporters asking Rayan's mother how she felt, as her son lay trapped between life and death. We saw images and videos published which showed no respect for the privacy of the child, as well as some which were false.

We saw those who were displeased by the swell of solidarity, and we witnessed the bitter reality lived by those on the margins of society. We watched a government which did not bother to send representatives to the site of the accident, nor have the decency to write compassionate words on its official website, at a time when the hashtag #SaveRayan was going viral everywhere.

We heard victory triumphantly declared before anyone knew the outcome, when there would be no victory, because fate had other plans in store.

"Little Rayan is no longer the son of his parents alone, nor even of the Moroccan people – he has become the son of all the Arabs from the Atlantic ocean to the Arabian Gulf. He has left us now, all standing together because of him"

However, even in the most painful ordeal, there is a lesson, and in the cruellest adversity, a gift; and with every tragic incident, God's grace can be found. And the most heartening thing to emerge out of these sad circumstances was the outpouring of sympathy and solidarity across the Arab world.

Rayan brought together those long divided by politics and arrogant notions of difference, his tragic ordeal forging a space for an unparalleled solidarity and unprecedented campaign of support, generating a following across the region which broke all boundaries.

Little Rayan is no longer the son of his parents alone, nor even of the Moroccan people – he has become the son of all the Arabs from the Atlantic ocean to the Arabian Gulf. He has left us now, all standing together because of him. Will the solidarity grow further, or will it itself pass on and leave us too?

Omar El Mourabet is a political researcher and writer.

Follow him on Twitter: @OmarElMourabet

This is an edited translation from our Arabic edition. To read the original article click here. Translated by Rose Chacko.

Have questions or comments? Email us at editorial-english@alaraby.co.uk

Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab.