A year after Syria's deadly earthquake, orphaned children adjust to the loss bit by bit
Aya al-Sudani, a bubbly toddler with a toothy smile, will mark her first birthday on Tuesday, but there will be no celebration with cake and presents. The day also marks a dark memory.
On Feb. 6, 2023, a massive earthquake hit Syria and Turkey and the baby girl was pulled alive from the rubble of her family’s house in the town of Jinderis in northern Syria. She was still attached by an umbilical cord to her dead mother.
The girl was named “Baby Aya” — Aya is for “a sign from God" — by hospital workers but nicknamed Afraa in memory of her mother by the relatives who are now her guardians. The newborn
