"I never lost hope..."
A newcomer's determination to keep her family safe.
The average time a refugee spends in a refugee camp is 15 years. Prolonged conflicts limit a refugee’s ability to return home and international fear mongering and xenophobia has limited their access to resettlement. Nearly 80 million people have been forced to flee their homes, 26 million are officially refugees, but less than one percent are safely resettled to another country.
For Abeer Al-Jaabari, who arrived in Kitchener with her husband and three children in 2016 as sponsored refugees, her new start in Canada was a life-changing blessing – but a bittersweet one. Her heart ached for the rest of her family scattered around the world, living precariously in refugee camps or as asylum seekers: three brothers, three sisters and her parents.
Colleen Kenyon got to know this family as a volunteer ESL teacher and they have become very close. Colleen recalls that even before Abeer could express herself in English, she made it clear that she intended to bring her parents, siblings and their families to safety in Canada.
Sadly, within six months of Abeer arriving in Canada, her brother was killed back home. She was very close with him and mourned his loss deeply. This tragedy made her more determined than ever to find a way to sponsor other members of her family.
Fast forward to 2018 – Abeer, Colleen and Sherene Salah came together to create a sponsorship group to resettle Abeer’s mother, brother Ahmad and his seven children. By that time, Abeer had lost her father and another brother, and while she found it difficult to choose between her remaining siblings, it was clear that her mother and Ahmad’s young family were the ones most in need of resettlement.
“As a parent, I could only begin to imagine what it was like for Ahmad to wake each day worrying about the well-being, and really the survival, of his children,” says Colleen. “I'll be honest – I also wanted Abeer to begin experiencing joy in her new life in Canada, instead of always living with the worry and guilt that came from being ‘the one who got out.’"
Ahmad, his mother and his seven children arrived in Kitchener in September 2019, and immediately were confronted with their biggest challenge: housing. Property owners did not want to rent to refugees and the size of their family presented further challenges, despite Colleen and Sherene vouching for Ahmad. 
In the first few weeks, they stayed at an affordable hotel because Abeer found it a challenge to host and cook for 14 people in her two-bedroom townhouse. Sherene Salah, a key member of Ahmad’s sponsorship group, remembers the blessings that accompanied these challenges, like when the Muslim community in Cambridge stepped up to feed the family. “They were so generous, they provided lunch and dinner every day for the whole family for 12 days,” says Sherene. “Up until the day they left the hotel, meals were provided to the family.”
Today, Ahmad, his mother, and his seven children have found a home in a townhouse. They are settling in and enjoying their new life in Canada. The simplicity of the things Ahmad is grateful for speaks to the unimaginable hardships he and his family have endured.
“We are very happy in Canada. We have a house with a roof, no rain nor snow will affect our home. We have plenty of food and drink,” says Ahmad through a translator.
“The streets are very safe, no one is staring at another person. My girls can walk in the streets nearby and I am not worried that anybody will bother them.”
Their gratitude for quality education is a prominent theme for the whole family. “Education is far better than what my kids were having in the camp,” Ahmad says. “Here, they really do care about the kids and they are very kind to them; even if they feel a child is hungry, they take the effort [to make sure he eats]. Even other kids are kind with my children.
Each of the children name education as a highlight, with Ayah (15) and twins Safa and Marwa (12), saying they would like to be teachers in the future. Their own teachers in Kitchener have stepped up in a big way to make them feel welcome. One of them came to their door and gave them a gift of cookies; Penny Miller, the principal of the elementary school, organized donations from the school community and her church to buy the family a bunk bed, new mattresses and other essentials. She also took Safa, who lost her leg during a bombing in Syria, to the orthopedic doctor several times and checks in on the family to make sure the children are doing well.
Ahmad is attending English lessons and recognizes language as one of his greatest challenges to overcome. “Sometimes you hear him saying, ‘Give me one year, I’ll be speaking English so fluently!’, says Sherene. “But sometimes you hear him saying that he’ll never be able to speak English even in a hundred years.”
Ahmad has big dreams for his new life in Canada. He would love to buy a house of his own with a big fenced garden where he can grow his own vegetables. He dreams of running his own business. He wants to continue his own education and earn a degree.
As for Abeer, she will not completely be at peace until all of her siblings are safely resettled. With her mother and other friends, Abeer is already in the process of applying to sponsor her brother, Waseem, who is living alone with psychological and physical health issues in Turkey. But for now, there is also a sense of relief that her mother, Ahmad and his children are safely in Canada. “I never gave up hope. It is wonderful to be reunited again.”
Current Reality… and the Peace Project.
On March 16th, the Government of Canada announced that Canada will bar entry to all foreign travellers who are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents, with the exception of certain professionals, U.S. citizens and immediate family members of Canadian citizens.
What does this mean?
- Refugee arrivals through the Government Assisted Refugees (GARs) and Privately Sponsored Refugees (PSR) programs are on hold indefinitely.
- The Blended Visa Office Referred Program (BVOR), which resettles refugees identified for resettlement by the UNHCR, has also been temporarily suspended.
- Anticipated number of refugee arrivals from all streams will be fewer this year.
- With a grim economic forecast, up take of sponsorships even if the program resumes is unknown.
Despite these challenges, MCC continues with our work through creative strategies, like the COVID-19 Peace Project.
This project sprung out of our belief that newcomers have so much to teach us about finding peace in the midst of uncertainty. The Peace Project is a way for sponsors and sponsored families alike to create spaces to learn from each other, and affirm that while we are physically distant, we are not alone.
If you are moved to start a conversation around sponsoring a refugee, please contact us at refugee@mcco.ca. We are always in need of compassionate people who Choose Welcome.