“We work with them, for them, to find permanent accommodations for them. We do work with them to find a job.” ,” -- Mumtaz Ali, member Ahamdiyya Muslim Jama’at resettlement team for Syrian refugees.
Rakan and Houda family Photo: Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun |
Source/Credit: The Toronto Sun
By Maryam Shah | December 5, 2015
VAUGHAN - It was after he was “taken” for two months that Rakan decided enough is enough: He and his family — wife Houda, and their five children — had to leave Syria.
Close to two years later, the 44-year-old hesitates to speak of his terrifying disappearance, not revealing anything other than his family did not know where he was for weeks, and that he was not kidnapped for money.
“It was disappearing for 57 days, no one from my family knew about me,” Rakan recalled.
“But alhamdulillah (praise God), finally, I am released,” he said. They packed up their bags for a bus to Turkey.
Rakan is quiet, reluctant to speak of the destruction of the life they left behind.
“You see, I mean, in the civil war, everything is changed. It’s difficult to stay.”
Rakan and his family are among the many Syrian refugees headed for Canada’s shores as part of the federal government’s response to help with the crisis.
Born and raised in Homs, the third-largest city in Syria, Rakan studied electrical engineering at a university in Damascus. Houda, 37, used to teach elementary school.
But the civil war brought with it danger and uncertainty.
“You can be arrested from anyone,” Rakan said. “There’s militias, every kind you can imagine. So that’s why we decided to leave with the whole family to find a better future for the kids.”
The couple fled to Turkey in the late summer of 2014 with their three boys and two girls, ranging in age from 9 to 19. They managed to find “small” jobs, and made do.
They arrived in Canada last week, one of several Syrian refugee families sponsored privately by Humanity First.
The Toronto Sun visited the family at their temporary accommodations inside an empty Vaughan home used as a communal guest house by the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, which is co-ordinating resettlement efforts with Humanity First.
“We work with them, for them, to find permanent accommodations for them,” said Mumtaz Ali, a member of the Ahamdiyya Muslim Jama’at resettlement team for Syrian refugees. “We do work with them to find a job.”
Rakan and Houda intend on getting work and placing their kids in school as soon as possible.
“We hear that the first year will be very difficult,” Rakan said.
Families sponsored by Humanity First and brought to Canada have so far landed on their feet, according to the group’s chairman, Aslam Daud.
Around 55 Syrian refugees have been accommodated, he said, all from different backgrounds — some had retail experience, or used to work in administration. One was a carpenter.
“A lot of them weren’t really proficient in English so our biggest challenge was to communicate with them in their language,” Daud said.
REFUGEE FACTS:
25,000 — refugees to be settled by end of February 2016.
307 — refugees who have arrived between Nov. 4 and Dec. 2.
9,378 — applications being processed as of Dec. 2.
1,194 — permanent resident visas issued to refugees who have no arrived yet, as of Dec. 2.
2,602 — number of privately-sponsored refugees destined for Toronto.
Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada website
maryam.shah@sunmedia.ca
Read original post here: Canada: Humanity First sponsored Syrian refugee family building new life in GTA
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