People on Twitter can be overwhelmingly mean at times; but there are some instances that make up for most of it. Like the one I am going to talk about in this article.
Mevan Babakar – a 29-year-old who lived as a refugee near Zwolle in the Netherlands when she was a child – posted a picture of a person who was kind to her family and asked Twitter to help her reunite with him.
Hi internet, this is a longshot BUT I was a refugee for 5 yrs in the 90s and this man, who worked at a refugee camp near Zwolle in the Netherlands, out of the kindness of his own heart bought me a bike. My five year old heart exploded with joy. I just want to know his name. Help? pic.twitter.com/XzUgHzllYb
— Mevan | میڤان (@MeAndVan) August 12, 2019
And Twitter did not disappoint.
Thousands of shares and retweets later, the man named Egbert was found, and he was close enough for Mevan to meet him in person.
WE FOUND HIM!! A thread 👇👇
— Mevan | میڤان (@MeAndVan) August 13, 2019
After 3000 RTs, 3 news articles, 1 video and thousands of wonderful messages from around the world, @Arjen78 made contact with the family!
Guys, I knew the internet was great but this is something else. https://t.co/H4qmL1uVqQ
Tracing back their story, the ‘kind gesture’ in discussion here was Egbert getting a bicycle for the then 5-year-old Mevan, whose family had fled from Iraq during the Gulf War. It was her birthday.
Egbert was an employee at the refugee camp and helped many refugees with their acts of kindness. This is something that Mevan found out after her tweet went viral and people reached out to her, vouching for the couple’s generosity.
For those wondering here what five year old Mevan looked like. This was my fifth birthday in the refugee camp in Zwolle. She doesn’t even know that an incredible bike is coming her way aaaany day now! pic.twitter.com/caZ6NGFh55
— Mevan | میڤان (@MeAndVan) August 12, 2019
Mevan is currently on a sabbatical from her fact-checking job in London and is trying to trace the roots of her family. As for Egbert, he is very keen on meeting Mevan’s family as well. He says that if there were just two people he could meet from the camp, it would be Mevan and her mother.
He thought the bike was too small a gesture to make such a big fuss about but he’s really glad that it was the key to bringing us together again.
— Mevan | میڤان (@MeAndVan) August 13, 2019
He says he doesn’t smile in photos so we took a serious one together instead. pic.twitter.com/8UoaqLf1nI