Faith groups collaborate to shelter Syrian family
Mohammad Al Jammal doesn’t speak much English, so he uses hand gestures to describe the differences between life in Syria and Canada.
For Canada, he places his clasped hands against the side of his face, in the common pantomime of a person resting.
For Syria, he raises one hand with the index finger extended to signal the barrel of a gun that moves and shoots across the landscape.
Al Jammal, his wife and two children arrived at Edmonton International Airport on March 31, greeted by a large and perhaps unexpected crowd of Muslim relatives and community members, joined by a group of Mennonite Christians.
A partnership between the two faith groups — and a federal directive to open thousands of refugee placements to those fleeing the four-year Syrian conflict — allowed the young family to settle in Edmonton with relatives.
It’s a partnership that is expected to continue throughout the year, bringing hundreds more Syrians to Alberta and serving as a model that could be followed in other Canadian cities.
“When they escaped from (Syria), they thought maybe they would go back. Maybe it will be done, after six months or one year,” said his sisterin-law, Ghada Al-Adhami, who has lived in Edmonton for six years and is married to Al Jammal’s brother.
Al Jammal and his family fled their home on the outskirts of Damascus in 2012 when bombs destroyed the building next door.
They escaped to neighbouring Lebanon, where more than one million Syrians have sought refuge. But there’s no work, no school for the children, little hope for the future.
The family spent three years there, before coming to live with Al-Adhami in a northside Edmonton home.
“When the children came here, they didn’t talk or do anything. There was no one laughing, no one happy, no one is feeling rest or comfortable. Here they feel excited and very comfortable.”
Canada had accepted about 1,100 Syrian refugees as of January. Under mounting pressure from the international community, the federal government has agreed to allow 7,000 Syrian and 3,000 Iraqi refugees into the country by 2017.
Most will be privately sponsored, meaning their settlement will be facilitated by religious and community groups, such as the Mennonite Central Committee.
“When you give a hand when people need it, they will remember,” said Orlando Vasquez, program director for MCC Alberta. “We’re trying to be humanitarian, without preconditions for humanitarianism. That’s what we try to do as Mennonites. We come with open arms if someone is in need.”
The national Mennonite Central Committee has been at the forefront of private refugee sponsorship since the late 1970s, when conflict in Vietnam and Southeast Asia created a refugee crisis.
The MCC was the first organization to sign a sponsorship agreement with the federal government, allowing it to navigate the refugee bureaucracy.
There are now about 100 such sponsorship agreement groups in Canada. MCC Alberta hopes to sponsor 200 Syrian refugees this year through a partnership with Edmonton’s Islamic Family and Social Services Association. While the Mennonite group holds the sponsorship agreement, it’s IFSSA members who have ties to Syrians dispersed throughout the Middle East.
“It’s unique in the sense that now we’re talking to a different faith group. Believe it or not, we have a lot of common ground. But misinformation has created differences,” said Vasquez. “It’s hard when that is in place, how to present this to churches. It takes a while for churches to buy in and say, ‘Yes, it’s good to talk and have connections with them.’
The Christian and Muslim organizations have since signed a memorandum — while the MCC has used its sponsorship agreement to bring the refugees to Canada, IFSSA and its members will take on the responsibility for settlement, job searches and providing housing for a year.
The partnership has worked so well that Ayub Umarji, who sits on IFSSA’s board, has received calls from Muslim organizations across the country asking about developing similar partnerships. Umarji hopes the Mennonite and Muslim groups can continue to work together on social justice projects.
“I’m hoping IFSSA can tighten its ropes with the Mennonites on a long-term basis and create this thing where we’re respectful of everybody, and we can work together, and do work together, as we have historically worked together,” he said.
Umarji also praised the federal department of Citizenship and Immigration for work in processing applications quickly, sometimes within six months, and contacting sponsors with the special needs of some refugee families.
For Al Jammal, life in Canada has settled into a rhythm. He has found work as a janitor, his eldest child has enrolled in school, his mother is scheduled to arrive from Lebanon later this month.
Through his sister-in-law, he said that he appreciates that everyone is granted human rights in Canada.
“When we first came, we thought it would maybe just be for a while until the war is finished. But now that I’m living here and seeing the people here and working, I’m thinking why not. Why can I not live here?”
When they escaped from (Syria), they thought maybe they would go back. Maybe it will be done, after six months or one year.