Breaking bread while breaking down barriers
Initiative aims to foster understanding between community and refugees with welcome dinner
With the aroma of traditional Syrian delicacies permeating the air, what’s usually the drivers’ support centre at Uber’s Toronto office was transformed into an intimate story telling party Wednesday night.
The guests from Matthew House, a refugee shelter in the city, were welcomed by Uber staff, mingling over faruj batata, a chicken dish with potatoes, a Syrian rice concoction with seven pepper spices, and ouzi, a puff dough pastry stuffed with ground beef and green beans.
The food, for Toronto’s first Refugees Welcome dinner, was prepared by Syrian couple Amir and Nour Fattal, who arrived here from Turkey in July after they were sponsored by a group of Toronto residents.
“It’s great to meet new people,” said Ali Mahmud, 37, who fled Eritrea for Canada in January and was granted asylum two months ago. “We had problems in our country. I’m here by myself. I’m hoping to share our stories.”
“This is a great way to bring people together to extend that sense of home and hospitality,” Sheldon McCormick, Uber’s general manager in Toronto, told his guests.
“I hope the stories that have surfaced will send a message to the public and policy-makers that there is solidarity over the voices of hatred.”
Launched in February with faith groups in the United States, the Refugees Welcome campaign has expanded to Germany, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Norway and, now, Canada.
David Ponet, partnership specialist at UNICEF U.S., said the initiative was launched to foster understanding and appreciation between local community members of the host countries and refugees amid growing anti-refugee sentiments around the world.
“It is one way we can engage the public to promote solidarity,” Ponet said.
“The dinner helps bring the community together and break down barriers. It can also help those struggling to integrate to network with the community. It humanizes the refugee crisis and connects people at a human level.”
In partnership with New Yorkbased strategy firm, Purpose, the initiative offers an online toolkit for corporations, community groups and individuals to plan the dinner. Some even use the gathering to raise funds for refugee-related causes such as scholarships for refugee youth in the Middle East.
“The best part of this experience is seeing what kind of human connections are made at the dinners and the opportunities that result.” GISSOU NIA STRATEGY DIRECTOR AT PURPOSE
According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, an unprecedented 65.3 million people globally have been displaced, with about 21.3 million refugees — nearly half of them children — having fled their own countries.
“The best part of this experience is seeing what kind of human connections are made at the dinners and the opportunities that result from it, for education, employment, housing and other needs,” said Gissou Nia, strategy director at Purpose, who worked for years in the field with Iranian refugees in Turkey, Malaysia, Iraq and other countries.
“It takes a village, and in a time where political leadership on this is- sue in some corners of the world is waning, it is all the more important to put people of power behind these issues and engage corporations, organizations and other actors in reaching solutions.”
To date, three Toronto groups, Huge Inc., a marketing agency, Uber and the Centre for Social Innovation are already on board. Refugees Welcome hopes to reach out to other Canadian cities soon.