Two recent stories about random destruction and senseless violence invite us to find meaning not in those events, but in what happened next.
A blast, a response, a recovery
A natural gas explosion leveled a home on Syracuse’s North Side a year ago, severely injuring members of two Burmese refugee families. Staff writer Timia Cobb recounts what happened next:
A soldier and other neighbors plunging into the chaotic scene to help. A heroic response by 100 city firefighters, police and paramedics to rescue the trapped and injured. Life-saving medical care, for months on end, provided by Upstate University Hospital to 13 members of the two families. An outpouring of donations to help them get back on their feet.
Fuje Alam Bin Abdul Rahman and his wife, Rajumah Begum Binti Dil Mohamma, had already been through a lot since childhood. They had bounced around Southeast Asia until receiving refugee status as members of Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya minority. In 2019, they arrived in North Carolina. In 2022, after a stop in Buffalo, they moved into the small home at 205 Carbon St. with their five children…