Viral video of refugee children experiencing their first snowfall still warms hearts

Two Eritrean refugee children were filmed seeing snow for the first time. Their reactions were priceless and definitely warmed the hearts of people.

Just last month, Twitter user Rebecca Davies posted a video of two Eritrean child refugees playing in the snow of what seems to be a backyard. The post had the caption, “A first snowfall for Eritrean children new to Canada. #NewcomersWelcome #WelcomeToCanada #RefugeesWelcome #privatesponsorship #BVOR.”

The 40-second-long clip showed two siblings, a 7-year old girl and a 5-year-old boy dancing, clapping, and playing with the falling snow. The two came to Canada as refugees from East Africa and is currently being hosted by Rebecca through the Ripple Refugee Project. Along with the two children are their mother and two more kids. Rebecca commented,

“Their (single) mother is a superhero. She has four kids under 7, fled a war, survived refugee camp, and made it to Canada. She’s resourceful and resilient.”

The post quickly went viral and gained over 4.1 views, and hundreds of thousands of likes and retweets – including one by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with the caption “Amazing – now convince them that shoveling is fun and you’re all set. Thank you for everything you do, Rebecca #WelcomeToCanada.”

Others replied to the post and showed appreciation, one of which being @rye_encoke saying,

“OMG thanks so much for sharing this beautiful video!! I am smiling so wide it hurts. Just love this, so sweet to see them dancing around in the snowfall like that. Do you know them? If so please give the whole family my love from London, Ontario and tell them #WelcomeToCanada.”

Another user @terhas_ commented,

“At the end of this beautiful clip, the (presumed) mother says “wulel bely”, an expression in Tigrinya which loosely means “dance and be happy” …. But I think they realized just how happy this video would make everyone who watches it #WelcomeToCanada.”

Certainly, there is nothing like playing with snowfall, especially when you are a child. The reaction of the children on the clip says it all! With the thousands of responses and hashtags (#WelcomeToCanada) the post is getting, these refugees are definitely welcomed in Canada. No doubt, this is probably going to be their best Christmas yet.