Child asylum seeker in Sweden smashes charity record

An 11-year-old asylum seeker on Wednesday smashed a charity fundraising record and won hearts across Sweden after facing a barrage of racism during his collection campaign, the charity said.

Murhaf Hamid raised five million kronor ($488,000) selling paper flower pins in a traditional yearly campaign for the Majblomman (Mayflower) children's charity after his story went viral on social media.

"This is totally outstanding. We have never ever seen anything like it before," the head of the charity, Ase Henell, told AFP. Hamid even managed to sell a pin to the prime minister, with his story making headlines for the past week.

The charity has existed for more than 100 years and helps poor children in Sweden, providing clothing and paying for activities they can't afford.

The previous record was 130,000 kronor, set last year by a 10-year-old boy. "Murhaf is one of those children that we normally would have helped. (Instead), he has helped himself and he has helped a lot of children in poverty in Sweden," Henell said.

Children sell the flowers door-to-door and online, earning a 10-percent commission on the pins they sell. They are allowed to keep any tips they receive. Hamid, who was born in Sweden to Ethiopian parents, said that on his first day out raising funds, some adults told him to get off the street and he sold only a few pins in five hours.

When he told a family friend that he thought it may have been due to racism, she wrote about his efforts on Facebook. The post went viral and Hamid received a flood of support -- and racist comments. "The things that they have said, I can't even put those the words in my mouth. It's so horrible," Henell said.

Swedish daily Aftonbladet reported that after his fundraising bonanza, Hamid, who lives in Glimakra in southern Sweden, asked his mother if it was possible to buy permanent residency for his family with the money he had earned.

He was dismayed to learn he could not. If parents in Sweden do not have residency status, their children do not automatically qualify by birth. Instead, he plans to use the money to buy "trainers, a cardigan and a mobile phone," Henell said.

Laila Rahman, the family friend who wrote the viral Facebook post, told AFP last week she was "very shocked" by the success of Hamid's fundraising drive. "I've shared a lot of posts before but nothing's ever gone this viral," she said, adding that the attention the story was getting was about "so much more than just his sales". "It's also raising awareness for the whole situation with a boy who was born in Sweden almost 12 years ago and his family's (asylum) application still being processed," she said.