The families have begun to arrive
Mahdi and Maha Alhelal, and their three small children Madlin, Mohsen and Ahmad, are among the first Syria refugee families to arrive in Guelph, following months of intensive preparations.
Mahdi and Maha appeared overjoyed to be among their new friends at a welcoming gathering at the Dublin Street United Church on Sunday afternoon.
“I’m very happy to see so many people with smiling faces,” said Mahdi. “We suffered there. Now Guelph has made us very happy.”
Maha cut a chocolate cake that had a welcome message written in Arabic on it. She, too, wore a broad, enduring smile.
The couple’s children played with other children event, laughing, running, eating cake, and running some more.
The family is enjoying a life of freedom from the extreme tension and worry of life in the Lebanese refugee camp where they lived for about two years after fleeing the war-ravaged city of Homs under cover of fog and darkness, with the assistance of a United Nations convoy, Mahdi said.
There are over 1.3 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, according to UN data.
Mahdi’s brother, Ahmad, has been in Guelph since last spring, and has not seen Mahdi and his family for four years.
There was a tearful reunion a few days ago at Pearson International Airport in Toronto.
“This means everything,” said Ahmad, speaking of having his brother’s family safely in Guelph. “I worried so much about his safety, the safety of his wife and children, for everything. They are safe now.”
About 25 sponsorship groups are bringing 75 Syrian families to Guelph. One of those groups, funded through a $1.5 million act of philanthropy by local entrepreneur Jim Estill, is sponsoring 50 families.
All together, about 600 volunteers have signed up to help the extraordinary local effort. Warehouses are filled with furniture, household items and clothing in preparation for their arrival, which is imminent.
The sponsorship group Syria to Guelph was among the first to form in the city. They brought the Alhelals here. Their work began in September.
Initially, group organizer Blair Cameron said on Sunday, they were told they had 12 to 18 months to prepare for their family’s arrival.
But timelines shifted quickly as the refugee crisis worsened.
Suddenly, everything had to be in place in just two months, he said, including collecting roughly $30,000 in sponsorship funds to support the family for one year. The group partnered with Dublin Street United, since the United Church of Canada is one of the country’s sponsorship agreement holders, Cameron added.
The process was intense, complicated, and hurried. Everything the family needed to sustain life for the first year, and to settle comfortably into the community, had to be arranged.
“As the refugee crisis unfolded, and the political climate and political will changed, new avenues and new time frames opened up,” Cameron said. “Timelines were much accelerated. We had to turn to the community for help. We ran a crowd-funding campaign and partnered with Dublin Street United Church to raise the almost $30,000 required to sponsor one family.”
Cameron said the image of brothers Mahdi and Ahmad reuniting at the airport was “a magical moment.”
“If we can provide a safe home, a loving home for a family, that is the least that we can do,” Cameron added.
Kristen Bustamante is among the 16 members of the Syria to Guelph group.
The arrival of the sponsored family is an “amazing” event in everyone’s lives, she said.
“It is one of those experiences in your whole life that you will never forget,” she said. “It is just amazing to see that a group of people can actually make a difference like this. A significant change has happened in this family’s life because of this group of people.”
She said the members of the Alhelal family are “wonderful people,” and that Guelph is lucky to have them as part of our community life.
“It is very sad what is happening in our country,” said Mahdi, who has a background in computers, and was a salesman before the Syrian civil war broke out.
“When the conflict started, we thought it would end soon,” he added. “But it went on and on. It became too hard to watch or listen to the news. I feel very happy that people get out of that hell. I would like to see as many as possible get out.”
The children start school on Tuesday, and their father is filled with hope that they will find many new friends. He said Guelph is a city of peace and quiet, with many natural places for the family to spend time.
“Everybody is smiling, everybody is happy,” he said, speaking of the people of Guelph. “I have never felt so much relief in five years.”
