Summer camp hopes to inspire Syrian kids
Etobicoke program gives youth space to create their own world
Etobicoke’s Broadacres Park is one with few amenities.
Shady trees are in short supply. There are no massive playgrounds or swimming pools. There’s grass, there’s air and there’s sun. Anything beyond that is purely up to the imagination.
But to Leah Houston, artistic director of MABELLE arts, that’s exactly what her team was going for when they settled on the spot for a summer camp for Syrian refugee children — a program created in partnership with the Arab Community Centre of Toronto and Applewood Shaver House.
“What we’re trying to do here, what the kids are doing, is a microcosm of being a newcomer somewhere like Canada,” Houston said, cutting a piece of cardboard for the group’s giant hawk-head art project. “You come here with litter, and you create your own world.”
The camp, which runs until Aug. 5, takes newly arrived Syrian children, aged 5 to 14, and brings them together to learn about art, teamwork and, most importantly, making friends from home.
The group participates in a wide array of activities, from craft sessions to swimming to running through the sprinklers — Houston calls it summer living in an organic way.
Youth mentors of Middle Eastern descent who’ve walked the walk of a child newly arrived in Canada help the children feel at home.
Osama Jibril, 16, is a workshop assistant with MABELLE arts. He’s been attending camps like this one ever since he arrived in Canada from Jordan as a very little boy. He knows the trick to making the kids comfortable is to “always be prepared to smile.”
“The kids are just excited to come everyday. I love playing with them,” he said. “If there’s one thing I’m always trying to remember, it’s what I felt like at the time. ‘How would I react to that if I were still that young?’”
Houston says the program’s aim is to support the children who may have experienced trauma as they fled their homeland, but staff avoid dredging up those experiences. The classic struggles of the refugee narrative, in particular, Houston says, is tired and not helpful.
Rather, Houston emphasizes ensuring the children have a bright and sunny time each day of the camp.
And on a recent day, the kids were certainly feeling it. Five-year-old twin brothers Mustafa and Munir Abbas were having a great time.
Fresh out of a mini-inflatable pool, their favourite thing to do at the camp they say is to play on the hand-braided swings the group made and race to the sprinklers set up near Applewood Shaver House.
“I want to make a big splash in the pool, and then (go on the) swing,” Mustafa said, checking for his brother’s agreement. “The pool is the best,” Munir chimed in.
Drying off on the grass beside them is 4-year-old Ryan Itahi, whose rubber ball is a favourite with the kids. Reaching into the pool, he pulls it out to show everyone. He’s not much of a talker, but he makes it clear, this ball is his.
“It’s orange, and it is mine. It’s my favourite.”
Sisters Marita Zieadeh, 11, and Selena, 6, conferred with the help of an interpreter. (Most of the children speak only Arabic and volunteers and interpreters help keep communication flowing.) The girls said they can’t pick a favourite activity at the camp, but like the Abbas brothers, they sure love that swing.
“It feels like you’re flying,” Marita says. Houston asks why Marita likes flying so much.
“It feels like you’re free.”