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Old Ottawa South resident Marc Rand decided he wanted to do something to help a Syrian refugee family that is being sponsored by a community group in his neighbourhood. But he needed the OK from his 16-year-old son, Ben.
“Mind giving up your room for a while?” he asked Ben before offering their home as a temporary refuge for the family with four young children.
“I’m fine with that,” said Ben in an interview. “It will be interesting and educational to deal with this firsthand, rather than just in the news.” He’ll bunk with his dad, freeing up two of the three bedrooms in their home.
“My furniture stays, though, right?” he asked his dad. “Yes, but you’ll have to clean your room up,” said a laughing Marc.
The Rands were among 40 people at Trinity Anglican Church recently for a meeting of the Ottawa South Committee for Refugee Sponsorship. Most of the first wave of 10,000 Syrian refugees expected to arrive in Canada before the end of the year are privately sponsored by groups that agree to cover their expenses and help out during their first year in Canada.
The Ottawa South group had a blizzard of details on the table. Friends and neighbours have been asked to donate a long list of items, from a kitchen table to dish soap, dressers, lots of shoes and four car seats. “Should we get them cellphones?” someone asked.
About 40 people attended a meeting of the Ottawa South Committee for Refugee Sponsorship.
They’ve been awash in offers of help and cash. More than $50,000 has been raised, enough to start work on sponsoring a second family. A dentist, optometrist and barber have offered their services. Several former English-as-a-second language teachers said they’d be glad to tutor them. Students at a nearby private school plan to make welcome signs in Arabic.
The group has scant details about the family. The mother is age 28, the father 48. They have twin six-year-old boys, another boy of four or five, and a girl around two. They are originally from the Syrian city of Homs, and fled to Beirut, Lebanon — how, why and when is a story that will be filled in later.
Robert Taylor, chair of a community group based in Ottawa South that is sponsoring a refugee family from Syria, speaks to a meeting of volunteers.
The sponsors are trying to consider all the various scenarios that might befall the young family, says Robert Taylor, chair of the group’s steering committee. Suppose, for instance, that one of the kids wakes up in the middle of the night screaming with an earache, and needs to go to the hospital? They’ve lined up several translators and eight volunteer drivers who will be available any time.
The biggest question — where will the family live? — was settled Tuesday. The group would love for them to settle in Old Ottawa South, but rents are expensive. After their first year in Canada, the family will have to make their own rent payments. “I can’t imagine getting settled, liking where you live and being happy, then having to leave,” says volunteer Jennifer Graham. After two months of considering apartments that were “rundown and dirty and didn’t seem so safe,” Graham came across a gem on McArthur Avenue.
It’s a three-bedroom unit in an enclave of low-rise apartments. “The second we walked in the door I thought, ‘This is it,’ ” says Graham. “It’s warm and inviting.”
The unit is just below ground level — “with little kids, and bringing all those groceries in, it will be easy.” There’s old-fashioned radiator heating. “Coming from Syria, they’ll be able to keep toasty warm all winter.”
It’s close to all the essentials: a school, halaal butcher, grocery store, mosque, bus stop, walk-in clinic and a park. Rent is only $1,050 a month. The apartment is available Jan. 1, but the landlord will let them start moving things in early because it’s vacant. “When the family arrives, we can have a home for them,” Graham told the meeting. “Clothes in drawers, plates in the cupboard, food in the fridge.”
Jennifer Graham, with son Phineas, told the meeting that she and another volunteer had found a great apartment for the refugee family.
But it’s not known when the family will arrive. It could be days, weeks or months until the paperwork is processed.
That complication created another debate. What if there’s a glitch, they don’t come at all, and the group is stuck with an apartment? If this apartment isn’t snatched up, will there be another as suitable later when more refugees arrive in town, all seeking cheap housing?
The group decided to rent the apartment. But the family will probably first stay with the Rands, for a few days or weeks, while they get introduced to Ottawa.
jmiller@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/JacquieAMiller
查看原文...
“Mind giving up your room for a while?” he asked Ben before offering their home as a temporary refuge for the family with four young children.
“I’m fine with that,” said Ben in an interview. “It will be interesting and educational to deal with this firsthand, rather than just in the news.” He’ll bunk with his dad, freeing up two of the three bedrooms in their home.
“My furniture stays, though, right?” he asked his dad. “Yes, but you’ll have to clean your room up,” said a laughing Marc.
The Rands were among 40 people at Trinity Anglican Church recently for a meeting of the Ottawa South Committee for Refugee Sponsorship. Most of the first wave of 10,000 Syrian refugees expected to arrive in Canada before the end of the year are privately sponsored by groups that agree to cover their expenses and help out during their first year in Canada.
The Ottawa South group had a blizzard of details on the table. Friends and neighbours have been asked to donate a long list of items, from a kitchen table to dish soap, dressers, lots of shoes and four car seats. “Should we get them cellphones?” someone asked.
About 40 people attended a meeting of the Ottawa South Committee for Refugee Sponsorship.
They’ve been awash in offers of help and cash. More than $50,000 has been raised, enough to start work on sponsoring a second family. A dentist, optometrist and barber have offered their services. Several former English-as-a-second language teachers said they’d be glad to tutor them. Students at a nearby private school plan to make welcome signs in Arabic.
The group has scant details about the family. The mother is age 28, the father 48. They have twin six-year-old boys, another boy of four or five, and a girl around two. They are originally from the Syrian city of Homs, and fled to Beirut, Lebanon — how, why and when is a story that will be filled in later.
Robert Taylor, chair of a community group based in Ottawa South that is sponsoring a refugee family from Syria, speaks to a meeting of volunteers.
The sponsors are trying to consider all the various scenarios that might befall the young family, says Robert Taylor, chair of the group’s steering committee. Suppose, for instance, that one of the kids wakes up in the middle of the night screaming with an earache, and needs to go to the hospital? They’ve lined up several translators and eight volunteer drivers who will be available any time.
The biggest question — where will the family live? — was settled Tuesday. The group would love for them to settle in Old Ottawa South, but rents are expensive. After their first year in Canada, the family will have to make their own rent payments. “I can’t imagine getting settled, liking where you live and being happy, then having to leave,” says volunteer Jennifer Graham. After two months of considering apartments that were “rundown and dirty and didn’t seem so safe,” Graham came across a gem on McArthur Avenue.
It’s a three-bedroom unit in an enclave of low-rise apartments. “The second we walked in the door I thought, ‘This is it,’ ” says Graham. “It’s warm and inviting.”
The unit is just below ground level — “with little kids, and bringing all those groceries in, it will be easy.” There’s old-fashioned radiator heating. “Coming from Syria, they’ll be able to keep toasty warm all winter.”
It’s close to all the essentials: a school, halaal butcher, grocery store, mosque, bus stop, walk-in clinic and a park. Rent is only $1,050 a month. The apartment is available Jan. 1, but the landlord will let them start moving things in early because it’s vacant. “When the family arrives, we can have a home for them,” Graham told the meeting. “Clothes in drawers, plates in the cupboard, food in the fridge.”
Jennifer Graham, with son Phineas, told the meeting that she and another volunteer had found a great apartment for the refugee family.
But it’s not known when the family will arrive. It could be days, weeks or months until the paperwork is processed.
That complication created another debate. What if there’s a glitch, they don’t come at all, and the group is stuck with an apartment? If this apartment isn’t snatched up, will there be another as suitable later when more refugees arrive in town, all seeking cheap housing?
The group decided to rent the apartment. But the family will probably first stay with the Rands, for a few days or weeks, while they get introduced to Ottawa.
jmiller@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/JacquieAMiller
查看原文...
