NEW LIFE INA NEW LAND
Prince Edward County finds inspiration, unity in welcoming refugee families
When residents of Prince Edward County came together to sponsor a Syrian refugee family last fall, they had little idea what the year would bring.
Twelve months later, residents of the picturesque rural county near Belleville say the effort, which will eventually see seven families from wartorn Syria settled in and around the area, has been filled with ups and downs but achieved the unexpected goal of bringing the whole community together.
It began with the arrival in October 2015 of the Al Jasem family, an enormous clan of14 — parents, a grandmother and11kids, including two sets of twins.
It quickly snowballed into a homegrown resettlement project with community members stepping forward to rescue two other families related to the Al Jasems who arrived in February. And now they’re awaiting the arrival of four other families they’ve sponsored since then.
“It’s been a real community-building experience,” said Carlyn Moulton, who owns an art gallery in the village of Bloomfield and was inspired to act after witnessing the magnitude of the refugee crisis during a visit to Europe in the summer of 2015.
Similar scenarios are being played out across Canada, with 35,147 Syrian refugees having arrived since last November. A further 20,096 resettlement applications are in progress, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. And 4,135 more applications have been finalized for Syrian refugees still in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and elsewhere.
The Star revisited four sponsorship groups profiled a year ago — residents of a Toronto apartment building, another group of neighbours, an interfaith group and the Prince Edward County sponsors — for updates on their experiences.
As the refugee crisis escalated in 2015, tens of thousands of desperate migrants crossed into Europe. Moulton was in the U.K. that summer and witnessed the effect.
On her return to Canada, she put out a call on Facebook to see if anyone wanted to help and was overwhelmed by the response. A meeting at a local community centre drew an overflow crowd and the Prince Edward County Syrian Refugee Fund was formed to welcome families displaced by war. The group raised $60,000 in less than four weeks.
There are now between 150 and 200 people involved in the local refugee resettlement effort, with each family having between12 and 25 people supporting them, not including others who have donated or contrib- uted financially.
There have been joys and sorrows. The Al Jasems’ matriarch, Hadji, died, and a new baby was born.
Waiting to be reunited with relatives has been painful and frustrating for the newcomers.
“On the one hand they are happy their bellies are full, but on the other hand, they are literally choking on that food,” Moulton said. “All of them have family in Syria or living in dire conditions in Lebanon. When they talk to them on the phone, sometimes we can hear the bombs in the back,” she said.
“I don’t think a month has passed that they haven’t lost someone close to them.”
Before finding refuge in Canada, the family had lived in Lebanon for four years, sometimes with 20 people sharing a tiny apartment after their homes were destroyed during a bombing campaign in Hama, in northwestern Syria.
In addition to the trauma of leaving family behind, there has also been the difficulty of adjusting to life here.
“I don’t think any of us had any idea how much time and energy this would take,” Moulton said. “But we don’t regret it.”
For the first month, the families needed people coming to their homes almost daily. It took time to get the basics organized: registering kids in school, identity cards, inoculations and simply driving people around.
But for all the challenges, the families have made huge strides. The children are doing well in school, the parents and older siblings have found part-time jobs: house painter, hotel gardener, the grocery store, McDonald’s and at the ClearWater Design Canoes & Kayaks, owned by Ian Crerar, who is lead sponsor for the second family to arrive.
Crerar said when the first family came, he wanted to get involved and put up his hand “quick enough” to sponsor for the Moustafa family — parents and four kids — who arrived in February.
“I’m at a point in my life where I have time to give back . . . and this is a good cause,” he said.
“It’s been a real joy. The family is really easygoing and industrious and it’s been a real pleasure to help them along and watch them adjust to life in Canada,” Crerar said, adding he’s been surprised at how quickly they have settled in.
The kids have picked up English, and the parents are getting extra tutoring at home, he added.
Overall, Moulton says the experience has been “life-changing.”
She said it was very moving to be part of Hadji’s funeral. “My son, the high school teachers, other of the boy’s friends, and other volunteers from the group . . . there we were at the mosque having this service for Hadji, and saying goodbye to her. This was something that bonded us together in a way.”
And then when the baby was to be born, “we had an extraordinary baby shower for the mum. The women got together, and danced up a storm,” she said. “We had quite a party.” “They are terrific people,” she said. “It’s broadened our understanding of what’s going on in the world.
“And it has really involved the whole community . . . and has brought a lot of people together.”