Young Syrian refugee pens heart-wrenching letter to the King of Sweden

A 12-year-old Syrian refugee who wants to share his harrowing story with the King of Sweden wrote a letter that could break your heart.

Ahmed arrived in Sweden about four months ago, and enrolled in an elementary school in Malmo, where Pooja Sharafi is a councillor.

"I had told the pupils they could come and talk to me if they had something on their mind," Sharafi told news outlet The Local.

Sharafi said Ahmed asked him if he knew the address of King Carl XVI Gustav, the country's current head of state. When Sharafi asked why, Ahmed said he wanted to send a letter so he could meet the king. 

Sharafi suggested Ahmed write the letter in Arabic, the boy's native language. Sharafi then translated it into Swedish and, together, they posted it on Facebook. 

The letter turned out to be much darker than Sharafi imagined, and in the post, he wrote that it brought him to tears.

Ahmed said his father was left without work when the family's factory and shops, where they sold children's clothes, burned down.

"My dad went into his room to tell mom that the factory was on fire. My mom went out of the room crying," according to a translation of Ahmed's letter.

Around the same time, the boy dropped out of school after a traumatic experience.

"I couldn't go to school anymore because my miss was murdered by a shot in front of our eyes, me, my brother and the teacher's children," he wrote. "Our friends were there, too. I can't forget these seconds. They were my worst moments."

Soon after, Ahmed's father decided the family needed to leave Syria for their safety, the boy wrote. 

The family took a raft to Turkey and then lived in a refugee camp for 15 days, he explained.

"I always went away to cry. I didn't want my parents to see me," Ahmed wrote. "My mom cried just as I did, and saw to it that no one could see her. But I saw her. My heart was crushed."

As Ahmed and his family made their way to Sweden, he decided that he wanted to meet the king. He made sure to keep a bag of new clothes especially for such an occasion. 

Once he arrived, however, he contrasted the life his family once had, with a big house and lots of family and friends, to the one they started in Sweden. Along with his aunt, his family sleeps together in a small room, Ahmed wrote.

"I wake up every morning to see my dad in front of the window, I'm sorry because he doesn't have enough money to buy for us, the family, what we want."

Sweden has recently transitioned from being among the most open European countries to refugees to closing its border and promising to deport up to 80,000 asylum seekers, according to the Guardian. 

"Sweden is getting more intolerant and closing its borders and pointing more fingers, instead of listening and including the people coming here," Sharafi said to the Washington Post. 

Almost 163,000 refugees arrived in Sweden during 2015, according to the Guardian. At one point, 10,000 people a week were arriving in Stockholm, though the city hopes to reduce that number to 1,000. 

Ahmed's letter should show Swedes that refugees are an asset to the country, Sharafi told the Post.