As previously noted here on eWn, former NXT Champion Sami Zayn has launched a project entitled; “Sami For Syria” which was created to help provide medical assistance & supplies to those affected by the Syrian War. Zayn spoke with The Whig in an interview that was supposed to promote his WWE Championship match on Saturday against Jinder Mahal, but instead, Zayn wanted to discuss his project.
Here’s what he had to say:
“For me, it’s obviously a pretty personal issue because of my background. My parents emigrated to Canada from Syria and I have a lot of family who are either there or have had to leave there. It’s a really bad situation that’s going on there and for the longest time I wanted to do something to help.”
“Like anything else, you can feel a bit powerless. The Syrian American Medical Society (does) a lot of really wonderful work, not only at various refugee camps around Syria, but also on the ground in Syria which is really hard to do. I got in contact with them and one thing just kind of led to another and now we’re on the verge of doing something really, really special, which is basically going to be able to provide health care to people that otherwise don’t have access to health care. It pretty much brings medical aid right to their doorsteps. It’s something that I’m really, really excited about and the fans’ generosity and the support of my fellow WWE superstars with their retweets and even financial contributions in some cases has all been really overwhelming and really, really special.”
“You hear the name Syria, it kind of becomes background noise, you become numb to it, you know. You just hear 13.5 million Syrians are living in distress or under siege and these numbers and these words kind of start not meaning anything after a while, until you’re able to kind of put a human face to it. In my case, that’s a lot easier because again, we’re talking about my family.”
“When you talk about Canadians, or Canada, taking in refugees, I do have family that have come as refugees to Canada. For me personally, it’s heartwarming to watch. They were ordinary people, with jobs and lives and everything just like you and I and then next thing you know their town gets destroyed, their homes get destroyed and now they have to restart a whole new life. But they’re the lucky ones, they’re the ones who got to come to Canada.”
“It’s really about trying to put a face to this. That’s one thing that I think I can maybe help do. I think a lot of our fan-base, a lot of people, you see what’s going on in the news and you don’t really know any Syrian people. I have no problem being a relatable face to people who otherwise maybe don’t really know any Syrians or don’t really interact with Syrians. I think if I can kind of be a representative and kind of put a face to it for people and shed a little light on what’s going on, then I think that’s a good thing. That’s what I’m trying to do.”
Sami had a lot more to say about his wonderful project & you read the rest of his comments by clicking here.
