Fighting back tears at a memorial service in Vancouver, Tima Kurdi said that she blamed herself for the deaths of her nephews, three-year-old Alan Kurdi and five-year-old Ghalib, as well their mother, Rehanna.
"'I'm so sorry it was my fault," Tima Kurdi recalled telling her brother, Abdullah Kurdi, over the phone after the incident.
Tima Kurdi said she spoke to her brother on the phone before the memorial on Saturday and he told her not to blame herself.
She said she feels responsible because she sent smugglers $5,000 to take the Syrian refugees on a boat. The boat trip started out on calm waters, but the small vessel flipped in rougher waters of Aegean Sea en route to Greece from Turkey. The mother and two boys drowned, and little Alan's body washed up on the beaches of Bodrum, Turkey where it was famously photographed mid-week.
The incident has placed an international spotlight on the desperate plight of the hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing war-torn Syria and other countries in the Middle East.
Family, friends and other mourners filled a small theatre at Simon Fraser University on Saturday to commemorate the boys and their mother.
Tima Kurdi said that her brother buried his children and his wife in Syria and has not left their graveside.
"He was sleeping the last three days there on the ground beside them," said Tima Kurdi.
The family had fled Syria after conditions became unbearable and Islamic State militants had beheaded one their relatives.
Abdullah Kurdi travelled to Turkey first in search of work after his barber shop in Kobani started to flounder as people fled the country.
Tima Kurdi said that her brother initially sent money back home, but after city came under siege she helped move the entire family to Istanbul.
She helped pay for their rent and food, but she always worried that she wasn't doing enough to help.
"Since the day they were born they didn’t have a good life, and I feel sometimes guilty that I didn’t help enough," said Tima Kurdi.
The family was forced to embark on their risky journey after an attempt by another brother to attain refugee status in Canada failed.
They planned to seek a better life in Europe, possibly Germany or Sweden, and Tima Kurdi lives in B.C. and never met her nephews.
Tima Kurdi's son, Alan Kerim, also spoke at the memorial and said his nephews and his aunt "didn't deserve what happened to them."
"They were like any other children who wanted to play with toys and have fun," said Allan Kerim Kurdi.
Several family friends also read poems and messages honouring the refugees.
Hawer Said told the mourners that the two boys had heard stories about the "endless amount of toys" in Europe and were "excited" to play with them.
She said that Ghalib asked Tima for a red bicycle.
"Tima still remembers ... the joy in his voice."
Said added that Ghalib and Rehanna were "frightened" by the prospect of crossing the Aegean Sea with the smugglers, but Alan, who was just three-year-old, was oblivious.
"But the desperation for the survival of her family surpassed her fear of the water," said Said.
Family friend Nissy Koye relayed a message from Abdullah that he hopes the incident is a "wake-up call" for the international community.
"Millions of refugees: Kurdish, Arab, Christian, Yezidi and other minorities have been crying to world, but no one listened until Alan's little body surfaced," said Koye.
In particular, she singled out Canada's refugee system, which she said is "designed to fail."
"It is clear that the Canadian and international community needs to do more to help these refugees. They are human beings … they are not pawns in a political game," said Koye.
At Abudllah's request, after the service the family released balloons into the air along Vancouver's waterfront to honour his sons.
With files from The Canadian Press
