HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2017-07-06, Page 23THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 6, 2017. PAGE 23.
Syrian refugee family settles in Wingham
A new beginning
The Mustafa family, originally from Aleppo, Syria, is now settled in their Frances Street home
in Wingham after a year -and -a -half effort by community groups, churches and residents to
bring them to the community. Their journey took them from Syria to the Turkish border for
several years before they could come to Canada. They are grateful to the Canadian
government and Canadian people for the opportunity they've afforded the family for a new
chapter of their lives. From left: Mustafa, Joan, Mohamad, Sevim and Siham. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
As of last week, Wingham
officially became home for a family
of five refugees fleeing the ongoing
danger and uncertainty in Syria.
Richard Hall of the Wingham
United Church has been one of the
leaders of the project, which has
required a year and a half of
planning, effort and fundraising, but
he says his church is only one part of
the puzzle.
The Mustafa family fled Aleppo,
Syria three and a half years ago and
began a journey that would
eventually bring them to Wingham.
Aleppo has been the centre of
major conflict in the country for
years now. Prior to the Syrian Civil
War, it was the country's largest city.
Now it's Damascus.
The family's journey away from
Syria began with travelling towards
the Turkish border. In Turkey, the
Mustafas had some distant family
members. However, due to Turkey's
regulations, if the Mustafas arrived
at the border and attempted to appeal
for refugee status, it's likely they
would have been turned away.
In addition to the country's
policies, with the Mustafas being
Kurdish, there is a disdain for the
Kurds with the Turks, and the family
would have been walking into a
dangerous situation.
So when the family got to the
border, instead of making their way
into the country's immigration
office, they went to the United
Nations office, which accepted them
as refugees of the Syrian conflict.
However, there was a snag in the
paperwork, as Siham, the mother of
the family, applied for and received
refugee status for herself, her son
Mustafa and her daughter Sevim.
Because Mohamad, the father of the
family, wasn't present when the
application was filled out, he wasn't
part of the application, so when the
United Nations granted the family
refugee status, Mohamad wasn't part
of that classification.
Siham was then faced with an
ultimatum. She could accept the
application with her children and
leave her husband behind, or she
could re -apply and hope that they
would all be deemed refugees. She
re-applied and while the process
took a while, the whole family was
eventually granted refugee status.
During this time, the family lived
at a refugee camp near Istanbul,
which Hall says was a very rough
and poor environment for the family.
Once the family was granted
refugee status, there was another
snag in the process as Siham found
out that she was pregnant with the
family's third child and she wouldn't
be able to travel until their son Joan
(pronounced John) was born.
Joan was born on March 30 and
once the family was settled, the path
was clear for them to come to
Canada just days ahead of Canada's
sesquicentennial celebration.
The family landed at Pearson
Airport in Mississauga and, Hall
says, both sides were confused and
didn't know what to expect.
The Mustafas were expecting to
live in another refugee camp. They
didn't know that they would have a
home of their own and a supportive
community waiting for them. In fact,
they didn't even know they were
being picked up at the airport.
Hall says that the group from
Wingham was in the same boat. He
didn't know anything about the
family other than their names and
that he and the others should wait at
the International Arrivals section of
the airport and wait for them to land.
Grader purchased
Continued from page 7
like equipment and also said he
didn't think a joystick would be as
easy to use during the winter months
in the municipality.
"I'm not a grader operator, but it
seems to me they would be getting
knocked around the cab in the
winter and that might affect the
operation of a joystick," he said.
"There are many unknowns here and
I feel it best to stick with what our
operators know."
Councillor John Smuck said the
municipality has had "good luck"
with John Deere equipment and he
felt it made sense to keep steering
standard across the municipality's
fleet. He made a motion that council
buy the John Deere model. The
motion passed.
In his report, Alcock had proposed
selling the grader being replaced to a
company that had offered $25,000
for it, however council felt that the
municipality had been `lucky' lately
with GovDeals, an online auction
service for government agencies,
and directed him to investigate that
as well.
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Upon landing and meeting the
people who would bring them to
Wingham, the family was very
grateful and they were amazed with
what they would see in the next few
days in Huron County.
Hall says there was great joy in the
Mustafas the first time they saw
livestock, something they had never
seen before in Syria or along their
travels.
He says that the parents only knew
two things about Canada before they
landed: that Canada was turning 150
this year and that it was a welcoming
country for refugees.
Since arriving, they have made
brief trips to various grocery or
clothing stores in order to get them
on their feet and Hall says that the
entire community has been very
welcoming to the Mustafa family.
Their Frances Street home is
furnished completely thanks to the
generosity of the community and
donations that have been collected in
the last year and a half, Hall said.
That includes toys for the children
and clothing for the entire family.
On the Wingham side of things,
Hall said that the community
stepped up very early in the refugee
crisis and volunteered to bring in and
support a family.
The first family that was due to
come to Wingham eventually had its
refugee status revoked, Hall said, as
the father of the family had been
declared a refugee, but then re-
entered Syria at some point, which
cancels out that declaration.
Meanwhile, the committee was
working hard on fundraisers and
community events to raise money
and collect items for the family
when they arrived.
Those efforts were so successful,
Hall said, that the committee is no
longer looking for donations. The
group must pay for the family's first
month of rent and settlement fees,
while the government will pay for
months two through seven before the
group is again required to pay for the
final five months.
After the one-year mark, the
family is released from the refugee
program. Hall says that Mohamad
was a licensed carpenter in Syria,
but he is not yet licensed to work in
Canada.
In the meantime, both Mohamad
and Siham are taking English as a
second language courses in
Listowel, as no one in the family
speaks any English.
Through Google Translator,
Mohammad said that he and his
family are grateful to the Canadian
government and the Canadian
people for taking them in.
Hall says that bringing the
Mustafa family to Wingham
couldn't have happened without the
hard work and dedication of the
nearly 70 committee members who
have worked on the project since its
inception — not to mention the
generous members of the
community who have donated and
welcomed the family in recent
weeks.
He also said that other area
churches in Wingham, Teeswater
and Bluevale and Listowel, as well
as service clubs like the Lions and
the Legion all pulled together to
bring the family to the community.
After the first year of the process,
they'll become independent of their
sponsor community and the family
will begin the process of acquiring
citizenship.
"This was a major project for a
small rural church," Hall said.
"Everyone really pulled together to
help to pull it off."
See histories and
historic photographs
on our website
www.northhuron.on.ca
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