KENNEY DEFENDS NIQAB STAND
HOPE, LOVE ON ARRIVAL
Samar Odisho, right, greets her nephew Leonardo Odisho, 3, and his parents at Calgary International Airport on Thursday. The family’s arrival marks a year- long journey from wartorn Syria.
Leonardo Odisho’s cheeks were smeared with lipstick just seconds after the three- year- old and his parents walked through the arrivals gate at Calgary International Airport, marking the end of a yearslong journey from their homeland of war- torn Syria.
Three generations of their extended family, who had also escaped the civil war as refugees, welcomed the boy and his parents to their new home, showering them all with love, affection and lipstick-laden kisses.
Samer Odisho, the boy’s father, said through a translator he was relieved to finally land in Canada, more than three years after leaving his home in northeastern Syria. Like other relatives who greeted them at the airport, Odisho, his wife and son had arrived in Calgary under a refugee sponsorship program, a local response to a massive humanitarian crisis in the Middle East.
“He’s so happy now,” said Ashour Esho, a relative who acted as translator for Odisho. “He’s very excited to be here.”
Millions of Syrians have fled the conflict in their homeland, piling into boats and risking their lives to seek refuge in foreign countries.
The Conservative government in Ottawa, which has been under tremendous pressure to respond faster to the crisis, has promised to accept 11,300 Syrian refugees by the end of 2017, though opposition parties have pledged more aggressive targets. Most refugees under the Conservative plan would get here by private sponsorship.
Odisho and his young family were among 23 Syrian refugees who arrived in Calgary this week under the sponsorship of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Calgary.
The diocese is among several Calgary groups that have an agreement with Citizenship and Immigration Canada to sponsor refugees from abroad. In the past year, the diocese has brought in roughly 100 Syrian refugees under this program, with another 350 awaiting processing from Ottawa.
Most of the refugees that the church group brings to Canada have relatives or friends already living in the country who asked the diocese for help. The application process is long and stressful, lasting six months to a year.
Roughly half of those who apply through the diocese don’t end up in Canada, because they were accepted by other countries, their applications were rejected, they lost contact with their sponsor or because they died.
For those who arrive in Canada, the church group oversees the resettlement of each family for a year. The refugees receive help getting to appointments, securing health care, finding English classes and searching for work. In many cases, the diocese pays rent, food, transportation and other costs until the family is able to support itself.
In the case of the Odisho family, the diocese will spend $ 2,300 a month ensuring the parents and child have all they need until the father finds work.
Odisho is a barber who supported his family with his clippers while living in Beirut, Lebanon for the past three years. His Calgary relatives hope to get him a job here within weeks.
“This is a whole new life for them,” said Antoinette Godbout, sponsorship co- ordinator with the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society. “They have been living in fear, anxiety for the past three years.”
Refugees are forced to put their lives on hold, Godbout explained. Their children can’t go to school. They face discrimination from locals in their asylum country. They fear for friends and loved ones who were unable to leave.
“It’s extremely expensive to live in Beirut; it’s as expensive as it is to live in Paris,” Godbout said. “It drains any savings that they bring with them.”
Odisho’s extended family has been moving to Canada in the hopes of realizing a better life for the past two years. Esho, who acted as Odisho’s translator, was among the first of the family to arrive, in March 2013. Although Esho wasn’t classified as a refugee, the rest of the family has been, with 14 relatives now living in Calgary and potentially more to come.
Their homes in Syria are no longer safe. Even in peaceful cities, Esho said, residents live in fear of dropping bombs.
“I’m very happy,” said Esho, who works as a security guard at Wal- Mart. “Very peaceful country, friendly people; everything is OK.”