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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."