Syrian children hold up Pokémon photos, in hopes of the world finding and rescuing them

That Pokémon Go has taken the world by storm is an understatement. We have been hearing many stories around Pokémon, including some people falling off a clip, someone getting shot at, discovery of dead bodies and so on. We even did a piece on how it is unsafe to play Pokémon Go in India . But this tweet which showed up on our timeline gives the whole Pokémon craze quite a poignant colour. https://twitter.com/Teymour_Ashkan/status/755997550151397380 The Revolutionary Forces of Syria Media Office has shared pictures of children in war-torn Syria holding up pictures of Pokémon characters which have gone viral on social media. Each of these Pokémon pictures have an Arabic message under them, which is pleading the Pokémon-crazed world to go and rescue those children who are surrounded by war. https://twitter.com/RFS_mediaoffice/status/755796778348404737 According to Telegraph, one of the messages held up by a child reads, “I live in Kafr Nabl, the Aleppo countryside. Come catch me.” Another one says, “I am in Kafrnabol in #Idlib countryside, come find me.” And so on. The on-going Syria crisis has left over a quarter million children living under siege and trying circumstances, says Save the Children foundation.

A Syrian graphic designer, Saif Aldeen Tahhan, has used the  Pokémon Go app and Facebook to highlight the devastation that is present all around Syria. In what he calls the ‘Syrian version of Pokemon Go’, Tahhan has made digital images with a Syrian war-ravaged area and has superimposed it with a handheld device showing that same area through what looks like the Pokemon Go app. Tahhan has labelled all his images with a ‘Syria Go’ logo to drive his point home. But instead of showing Pokemon’s on the phone’s display, Tahhan has added items such as a first aid kit in what is a bomb blast ravaged area; a teddy bear in another place which has burnt soft toys; books inside an abandoned classroom; a home in a heavily shelled area and so on. Speaking to Al Arabiya, Tahhan said, “The world has become obsessed with this video game, so I told myself why not use it as a medium to convey our suffering.”