HomeMy WebLinkAboutGoderich Signal Star, 2017-06-21, Page 45GODERICH1 04
=or
1821-2011
Welcome Project Syria
KATHLEEN SMITH
Goderich Signal Star
The path Zaher Alchbli and his
family travelled on in order to call
Canada home.
Imagine a world where due to violence and
risk of death, you must pack up what you can
and leave behind your job and your home.
In that same world, you escape one place
that has a risk of violence and death only to
enter another.
Then in the end, to endure those hardships
only to move to a country that is predominately
Christian oriented; a country that speaks
another language then your native tongue;
a country of such a different culture that it is
overwhelming.
That life was a reality for Zaher Alchbli
and his wife Batoul Almussa whileliving in
a refugee camp in Lebanon and when they
eventually moved to Goderich.
Zaher and his wife Batoul have been living
in Goderich for just over one year and invited
me into their house to tell me their story.
Working for a contracting and construction
company for the last nine months, Zaher and his
wife have two children, a daughter Abeer in JK
at Goderich Public School and a son Hussein,
who was born in Goderich is a Canadian.
As it must have been quite overwhelming
to come to a new country and leave family
behind, it is incredibly astounding how well
Zaher and his family have acclimatized to the
Canadian language and culture in just over one
year.
Zaher .left the violence and strife in Syria,
entering a refugee camp in Lebanon, where
his family, including his mother, remain. His
wife Batoul has family who remain in Saudi
Arabia.
"I lived in the camp for five years and there
was no doctor, no school and the children move
around the whole camp [unwatched]. We lived
in a tent made of wood and. fabric. I lived with
my family — my two sisters, my three brothers
and my mom, all in one room for five years.
They are still in the refugee camp," explained
Zaher.
According to Zaher, the camp he lived in for
five years was a place that no one should live,
especially a child. There are no laws, no rules,
no :schools, and no doctors.
Living quarters are left up to individuals.
Most families, which could include parents,
grandparents, siblings and grandchildren,
are sharing one tent and one bathroom (the
material for the tent must be purchased and
built on their own time). •
"As camp you can see that everyone just
does things for them selves. Everything is so
bad there. Every person can work in the fields
or farm work` and earn $1 an hour. My wife
would go work at 4am and come back at 6prn,
with no food throughout the day and just kept
working, to come home with just $12," Zaher
said.
"It's hard work..No machines, everything is
with your hands. Camp is so bad for everyone.
Some children are born in the camp and when
they grow up in the camp, it's so bad for
them."
The conditions in the camp are unsafe and
unsanitary, but many of the people and families
in the refugee camps have no other options and
are only acting to survive.
Zaher added that the "news is so different
from what the reality of the camp is like. I
lived five years in the camp and the news of
refugee campsis so different."
Before they were notified that they had a
choice of where to go, Zaher contemplated
taking his wife and baby daughter (at the time)
along with him, on the boats heading towards
Europe.
Luckily for them all, Batoul refused to go
by water as they had a young child and they
remained in the camp. •
Contacted: by UNICEF and the UN, Zaher
was asked
on whether
he would
like to leave
the refugee
camp and
go to either
America or
Canada. As a
Muslim, he
felt he and his
family would
be more
welcomed
and safer. in
Canada.
It took
Zaher .:. and
his family a
total . of 45
days -to-leave
the camp in
Lebanon and
finally arrive
in Canada.
Zaher
went through
a . series of
m_e-dica1
examinations
and test to ensure of his health, and the
government conducted background checks to
ensure his record was clean, before he and his
family were given the stamp of approval to
leave the camp behind and make Canada their
new home.
"Before we came, I was scared a little
bit. I'm Muslim and there are close to 8,
000 Christians in Goderich. No Muslims, no
Mosque. I didn't know anything about being
here; it was so hard. I couldn't speak English.
My heart was pounding hard all the time.
I knew I was coming to Canada but I didn't
know what Canada was," Zaher explained.
"The US is so bad for Muslims and we were
scared that it would be the same here. Here it is
1, 000 percent different than the US. Everyone
is different and everyone is friendly. You are
all Canadian people — not Muslim, or Christian
or black or white. Everyone is just Canadian. 1
love it here because everyone is different but
together."
In the first few months in their new home and
Wednesday, June 21, 2017 • Signal Star 45
GODERICH
thousands of miles away from their families
and the place that was once their home,. Zaher
and Batoul struggled to adjust.
"I was staying home' all the time and the
first three months, I was crying all the time,
because I was shy and couldn't understand
what people were saying," Batoul explained
on how overwhelming the first months of life
in Canada were.
After a year of living here, Batoul is quite
independent. She now walks her daughter
Abeer to school everyday, goes shopping and
visits the doctor on her own, and meets -up with
friends.
From the generous and kind hearts of
volunteers with Welcome Project Syria and
from sponsors of Syrian refugees, they were
Contributed photo
Revered Ken Knight (back), donated funds to sponsor one fatnily and the
community raised the rest for Welcome Project Syria. Zaher Alchbli (left),
daughter Abeer, wife Batoul Almussa (right) with baby son Hussein, have been in
Goderich for just over one year.
able to slowly learn English and adapt to the
Canadian culture while being able to keep a
strong hold on their traditions and religious
beliefs.
The closest . Mosque to Goderich is in
Stratford, 'and so sponsors and volunteers
would drive Zaher and his daughter every
weekend to practice their faith.
In order to have . somewhere to live in
Goderich and to find work, it was the generous
donations and connections the sponsors
provided to their family.
"Everything is different here, but it's a nice
country. All we know is Goderich, not all of
Canada, but it is nice. The people are nice and
friendly and everyone helps each other," stated
Zaher.
"You do not see many people angry or bad
here. Every person is good and everyone has
helped me and my family, and I am so thankful
for that."
Zaher and his family came from nothing in
the refugee camp and here they have people
wanting to help and not wanting anything in
return. The sponsors and volunteers made the
difference and now, according to Zaher, they
are like family.
Despite the feeling of thankfulness and luck
that they have made Goderich and Canada their
new home, Zaher and his wife feel an immense.
sense of survivors' guilt.
Zaher's entire family remains in the refugee
camp and his mother suffers from a few medical
conditions that require paying for a doctor
to come to the camp. This can become quite
expensive for people with money, let alone
refugees who cannot work to earn money.
Each month, Zaher sends money to his
mother and family . in the refugee camp in
Lebanon to attempt to ease their suffering.
When asked on his feelings of being selected
and approved to leave the refugee camp and
move to Canada, Zaher grew solemn.
"It doesn't feel good. My mom is sad alt
the time. I'm the oldest son for my mother -
and when I lived there and worked, I gave my
family everything. I came here . though. My
other brother doesn't work and my mom is a
little bit sick. I would love my mom to come
here. I want to help her; I want to help everyone
in my family: I would like every Syrian to get
out," Zaher stated. -
"This is a Christian country, but when I
lived in a [predominately] Muslim country, I
didn't get treated the way I am treated here.
Canada has given me everything."
Zaher and his family have endured hardships
and suffering that many of us Canadian -born
citizens could not even imagine.
He left his work and his home to flee dangers
in Syria, only to enter another dangerous space
in the refugee camp in Lebanon.
They almost risked their lives by travelling
by boat toEurope, for an opportunity to get out
and survive.
They left their ,families behind in refugee
camps only to move to a country that was so
foreign to everything they knew that it was
overwhelming and frightening.
Settled in Goderich, Zaher and his family -
have no plans to move from this town and are
thankful .to all their sponsors who made the
transition to life in Canada a little easier. They
are proud to live here and call Canada their
home.
In Goderich's 190th anniversary and in
Canada's 150th anniversary of confederation,
it is important to remember all that we have
just because of the privilege of being born
here.
It is important to remember all that we can
offer to those who are in need of help, who
have endured unimaginable hardships.
It is important to remember that we are a
country that is built off the backs of immigrants
and one that celebrates our differences. •
It is important to keep in mind what Zaher
has said about his new home: "Everyone • is
different, everyone is friendly. You are all
Canadian people — not Muslim, or Christian
or black or white. Everyone is just Canadian.
I love it here because everyone is different but
together."