Rev. Stephanie McClellan unwraps a home computer from Computers For Schools that has been earmarked for the Syrian family that will arrive in Lewisporte sometime within the next six to eight weeks.
They have been busy over the last number of months preparing for the arrival of two Syrian families.
The first family was expected to arrive in March, but when the 25,000th Syrian refugee arrived in Canada in February, it marked the end of the first phase of the federal resettlement program.
That cutoff happened before the family of five identified to resettle in Lewisporte could make it here.
The local Refugee Outreach committee and the community had been eager to welcome the family when they thought they would arrive in March. Now it’s June and they are still waiting, with the hope that the same family will still make it to Lewisporte within the next two months.
Plans were to welcome a second Syrian family, though one was never specifically matched with Lewisporte. The committee felt that having two families arrive around the same time would help with the integration process.
Reverend Stephanie McClellan heads up the Refugee Committee in Lewisporte. She noted that because Syrians are not prioritized in the refugee claimants process, it meant that there could be an extensive delay in waiting for a second Syrian family to be matched and processed to come to Lewisporte.
“The way it is now they are in the regular system which means we wouldn’t get our second family until a year or two years down the road – which would not be the goal we were hoping for, for them both to integrate together,” she said.
McClellan said they went back to the Association for New Canadians. It was decided they would try to be matched with a family from other refugee groups. An Iraqi family of three came from the matching centre.
“We went around our committee and asked if everybody was comfortable with that,” she said. “There was no hesitation. Everyone wanted to support this young family.
“They speak Arabic, so both families will have Arabic as their first language and be able to support one another.”
The other plus is that the families will arrive around the same time. McClellan said that should help with any feelings of isolation they might encounter.
Reaching out
McClellan said the main goal of the committee is to help families, no matter where they come from.
“The whole Middle East is war torn and there’s all kinds of reasons that people there are not safe, so we are reaching all of our goals and it just turns out that the second family will be from Iraq,” she said.
While the committee hasn’t received a profile of the Iraqi family members yet, what they do know is that the father is 27, the mother is 24 and they have a three-year-old daughter. The father is a barber.
The Syrian family includes a 49-year-old father, 39-year-old mother, two children age eight and 10 and a grandmother. The father in this family is a painter.
McClellan said both men are very employable within the community.
“They can fit into the community very well with their skills as well as the eagerness of the community to welcome them,” she said.
With that being said, they won’t be expected to work until they feel comfortable in doing so. The financial support to the families is for a year.
“Their full-time job starting out will be learning the language,” McClellan stated.
In terms of language, local residents are still taking part in Arabic language classes as they prepare for the arrival of the families.
The basement of McClellan’s home has been renovated for the Syrian family and the committee is looking for a place to rent for the Iraqi family. They have enough furniture and household items to outfit both families through the generosity of the community.
The only thing that they are looking for now is a couple of cell phones or tablets that each family could use when they are mobile.
“For example, if they are in the grocery store and needed to quickly translate something,” McClellan said.
A home computer has been supplied by Computers For Schools for the Syrian family. McClellan explained that each Syrian family coming to Canada who had registered before Feb. 29 received a computer to help with language learning, keeping in touch with other family and with the world around them.
The committee is in the process of trying to arrange for a home computer for the Iraqi family as well.
Both families will travel from Lebanon, and because of their blended family Visa status their flights are paid for by government. The committee was prepared to fundraiser to pay the fee for the airfare, but now they won’t have to and they can concentrate on preparing to welcome both families.
