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VIDEO: Most in Oslo help freezing boy in test

The Local Norway
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VIDEO: Most in Oslo help freezing boy in test
Johannes Flaaten (11) cold and jacketless at the bus stop. Photo: SOS Barnebyer

A Norwegian children's charity left a thinly-dressed 11-year-old boy shivering at a bus stop in the winter cold to test how many people would spontaneously help him.

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Johannes Lønnestad Flaaten (11), sat at a bus stop near Oslo's popular St Hanshaugen park on and off for two days to film the video, which was part of a campaign by the charity SOS Barnebyer  (SOS Children's villages) to raise money for children in Syria. 
 
According to Flaaten, only three people out of the dozens who came and sat at the bus stop made no effort to help him, by, for instance, offering him a jacket. 
 
"There were so many nice people," he told Aftenposten. "We filmed for two days, and I thought maybe only three or four of them would give me their jacket altogether. But there are many more who did it. Many more than those who are shown in the video." 
 
"It's a campaign to raise awareness of people in Syria,"  Synne Rønning, the information head of SOS Barbebyer told The Local. "People should care as much about children in Syria as they care about this boy at the bus top. The situation in Syria is very harsh." 
 
The advert is part of a new fund-raising campaign SOS Barnebyer is launching to provide blankets and shelter to displaced children in Syria. 
 
Rønning said that Flaaten had volunteered for the role and had not been harmed by the cold. 
 
"He's an engaged 11-year-old boy, and his family are already sponsors of SOS Barnebyer," she said. "The family have a big heart and they really wanted to contribute. He got a small salary for the job that he did for us, but he wanted to do it because of the situation for the children in Syria." 

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