HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2016-02-03, Page 88 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Ethiopian refugees are here Seaforth
Melady not
impressed with
Trudeau
Shaun Gregory
Huron Expositor
A little jet lagged and unprepared
for the below freezing temperatures
associated with Canada's bleak win-
ter months, the Ethiopians have
finally reached their destination, the
Seaforth sponsor's are thrilled but
wish they were treated equivalent to
the Syrians.
Landing on Canadian soil January
21, the family of five, mother Ambiya,
33, and her four children Ahmed, 9,
Yusuf, 7, Fatuma, 5, and Sayida, 3,
made the more than 12,000 km expe-
dition for a better life. Housed in a
refugee camp of 3000-4000 people
for the last few years in the hot cli-
mate countryside of Africa, upon
arrival, by their attire it was if they
were still there. The mother in san-
dals, three children in shoes and the
youngest had no shoes at all, instead
just a pair of socks, according to the
founder of the Melody -Powers Sea -
forth Refugee Sponsorship Group,
Brian Melady, "this is not the Cana-
dian way to treat different nations."
"The three-year-old with socks,
she had no shoes. The point is peo-
ple deserve to be welcomed in a
warm fashion when they come to
Canada. Everyone deserves the
warm welcome not just Syrians,"
expressed Melady who also men-
tioned that there were refugees from
Syria who were fully clothed in win-
ter wear on the same plane as the
Ethiopians.
"The fact that we have policies that
exist (and) we can announce to the
media there's winter boots and coats,
Syrians welcome to Canada and we
can't extend $60-$80 for a winter
outfit."
As it stands, approximately 14,000
Syrian refugees have arrived in Can-
ada, tripling the intake in less than a
month. This main focus has been
undertaken by PM Jus-
tin Trudeau and is what Melady feels
is shafting other refugee support.
"Why don't these
people like hate us like
everybody does at
home? How can we
come so far for these
white people to show
us so much love,"
— stated Melady relaying
what Ambiya had told Rhil.
"The Ethiopians are pushed aside,
go worry about your own clothes,
that is not the Canada (ian) fair way,"
Melady said.
In a phone interview on January
26, he went on to say, if some costs
were taken care of by the govern-
ment so that other donors like his
organization had some breathing
room to put the funds elsewhere this
humanitarian effort would be much
easier. At the moment, numerous
news outlets across the country have
reported that Trudeau has waived
the usual payback loan known as the
Immigration Loans Program. It is a
loan offered by the government for
immigrant families, afterwards they
are required to pay back the advance
with interest. According to Melady,
the line of credit available can be up
to $10,000 per household.
"I can understand maybe why
some of the response to this refugee
crisis isn't sitting well with people
because this idea of pulling all our
support 100 per cent behind one
nation when there is so many people
who would also welcome our help,
stated Melady. And he also said after
the PM declared that Canada would
be waiving the fees, Melady said he
waited patiently for the announce-
ment to include other nations, but it
never came.
Currently Melady and his partner
Vicki Powers are sharing their home
in Dublin with the family of five until
they are stable enough to transition
into a world they are far from accus-
tomed to. Coming from a country
filled with hundreds of thousands of
refugees and their camp in Logiya,
Ethiopia, which is densely populated
also, the family is slowly getting used
to a nutritional life-style compared to
the malnourished habitat they were
living in less than two weeks ago.
Melady told the Expositor that in
Ethiopia fresh bread is a main com-
ponent to every meal.
"After seeing our bread machine,
which is a very modern appliance, to
spit out the most valuable piece of
food that they could possibly imag-
ine," he said.
"They wouldn't even have thought
Usborne & Hibbert
Mutual Fire Insurance Company
NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING
The 140th Annual Meeting of the Usborne & Hibbert Mutual Fire Insurance Company
will be held at the Kirkton-Woodham Community Centre at 2 p.m. on Monday, March
21, 2016 for the presentation of the Annual Report, to elect Directors and to transact
any business that may rightly come before the meeting.
Nominations will be received for the election of two Directors for a three year term. The
Directors whose term of office expires are Joe Chaffe and Morris Willows. Joe Chaffe
will stand for reelection. Morris Willows is retiring from the Board after serving for
21 years as a Director.
Article 22: Any person wishing to seek election or re-election as a Director must
file his/her intention to stand for election in writing with the President & CEO of the
Corporation in person at least thirty days in advance of the Annual Meeting or Special
General Meeting called for the purpose of electing Directors.
The 2015 Financial Statements for Usborne & Hibbert Mutual will be posted to the
company's website. Copies will be available at the company office, 507 Main Street
South, Exeter, Ontario.
Jack Hodgert Shelagh Cleary BA, FCIP
Chair President & CEO
'. 1 1 11 / 1
Contributed photo
The Ethiopian refugee family, mother Ambiya, 33, and her four children Ahmed,
9, Yusuf, 7, Fatuma, 5, and Sayida, 3.
to use butter, jams or peanut butter,
they just wanted bread."
Melady knew the altruistic trek
might be halted by a language bar-
rier seeing as the family is unfamiliar
with the English language. Aware of
the culture shock the family was
about to experience, the sponsor
group brought a translator by the
name of Rhil who was also an immi-
grant. Rhil left her country 15 years
ago with her then six-year-old child
to experience the Canadian dream.
Ambiya's primary language is Afar
and is only spoken by her Afar Tribe
with a population of approximately
1.5 million people. However,
she picked up Amharic in the Ethio-
pian Refugee Camp, which is how
she and Rhil were able to converse.
"We wanted to bring someone that
spoke their language because we are
dealing with a single mother and her
four kids, we wanted someone that
was perhaps motherly, said Melady.
Since there was a full entourage of
helpers and other interpreters, the
group packed in two vehicles to meet
the family. The special day, due to
customs, came with a three-hour
delay with the tired family making
their way through the airport termi-
nal to meet the organization for the
first time. The mother in a totally dif-
ferent place seemed timid and rather
scared, stated, Melady, however the
kids came with hugs and kisses as if
they "knew us forever;' he said.
The meet and greet at the airport
carried on later than expected. Real-
izing the little amount of time the
interpreter had to spend with the
family everybody thought it would
be a wise decision if Rhil stayed over-
night. Upon arriving to Melady's
house, he was shocked at what the
interpreter said back to him.
"Why don't these people like hate
us like everybody does at home?
How can we come so far for these
white people to show us so much
love," stated Melady relaying what
Ambiya had told Rhil.
"I keep rolling that in my head."
Now that the family has become
somewhat comfortable Melady
called the camp to inform them that
everything went well and that the
Ethiopians are in good hands. This
was positive news, considering the
Afar Tribe's closeness and caring for
each member. About five minutes
later Afar members from Toronto
called. Throughout the day more
called from all over Ontario and far-
ther including Ottawa, Hamilton,
London, Guelph and Calgary. The
family's busy schedule also included
a trip to St. James Catholic School
where the children were introduced
to their new principal and some of
the students. They are expected to
start attending half days and gradu-
ally building up their confidence to
where they can be relaxed enough to
participate in full days.
"They are not these desperate
starving kids we see on TV charities
that try to pull at your heart strings
for money," mentioned Melady.
"These are lively kids with smiles in
their eyes that are keen to learn, edu-
cation in Ethiopia is highly
respected."
According to the Melady-Powers
Seaforth Refugee Family Sponsor-
ship Group funding page they are
currently sitting at $9,500. To help the
organization and put them one step
closer to their initial goal of $20,000,
there will be a Welcome to Seaforth
Benefit Breakfast at the Seaforth
Agricultural Society February 21.
From 8 a.m.-12 p.m.