Dead Syrian boy’s aunt reflects on family’s journey, world’s refugee response
PORT COQUITLAM, B.C. — It looks like any other hair salon.
Shiny hydraulic swivel chairs sit in front of mirrored work stations. Hair-dryer seats line the far wall. Brightly coloured gels and shampoos festoon various shelves. Sweets fill a bowl beside the cash register.
But for owner Tima Kurdi, the aunt of a toddler whose horrific death beamed a spotlight on a refugee crisis and forever altered the lives of countless Syrian migrants, this space represents her extended family’s future.
“I’m calling it Kurdi Hair Design,” says Kurdi about the salon, nestled between a children’s reading centre and an optometry clinic in a nondescript strip mall in Port Coquitlam, B.C.