'Thrones' actor surprises Syrian refugee now settled in Germany

[October 12, 2016]   (Reuters) - "Game of Thrones" actor Liam Cunningham paid a surprise visit on Tuesday to a teenage Syrian refugee now in possession of a German visa and living in Stuttgart, a month after first meeting him in Jordan.

Cunningham, who plays Ser Davos Seaworth in the HBO television channel hit medieval fantasy first met 16-year-old Hussam when he visited Jordan's northern city of Irbid in early September, as part of a project by the charity World Vision to raise awareness about the plight of refugees.

The Irish actor and his British co-stars, Lena Headey and Maisie Williams, have also visited refugee camps in Greece earlier this year.

Hussam told Reuters he was "really happy, really happy" when Cunningham surprised him, adding, "It is like seeing my father."

Hussam fled first to Jordan after his school in Syria was struck by missiles during his final exams.

"A plane shot the school with missiles. So, many students (and) my friends are dead and killed," Hussam said.

Hussam is one of more than four million Syrians who have fled the country's war, which began in 2011 after a popular uprising against President Bashar al-Assad and his family's rule. The war has killed more than 300,000 people, half the population has been displaced and much of urban Syria has become a wasteland.

According to World Vision, Hussam's father and brother are already legally settled in Germany. Hussam is now staying in a hotel in Stuttgart with his mother until they find accommodation and the teenager has been teaching himself to speak German.

Cunningham commended Germany for welcoming refugees fleeing war in their home countries.

"This is the result of somebody in the government here and the large heart that the German people have of accepting people in trouble," Cunningham said.

(Reporting by Reuters Television)
 

[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.