A safety plate from the side of a wrecked refugee boat was passed around the audience at Tuesday evening’s Stepping Up Student Support for Syrian Refugees event on the University of Guelph campus.
The vessel’s capacity is listed at 20 people on the plate. When it capsized it was holding over 100.
Rayyan Haries, founder of The Volunteer Cook, a humanitarian relief effort for refugees landing on the shores of the Greek Island of Lesvos, was a guest speaker at an event aimed at galvanizing student efforts to support Syrian refugees.
Haries brought disturbing souvenirs with him - the plate, as well as squares of flimsy material from destroyed rubber rafts, and a number shoddily made lifejackets sold fraudulently to Syrian refugees.
Last year, Haries, a digital analyst and social media expert, was moved to action after seeing images of Aylan Kurdi, 3, the Syrian boy whose body washed up on the shores of Turkey after the overcrowded boat his family was in capsized. Many drowned, including Aylan, his brother Galip, and mother Rihan.
Haries told an audience of about 75 that shortly after seeing the image of little Aylan, he bought a one-way ticket to Greece. All he knew was that he wanted to help his fellow human beings by feeding some of the thousands of fleeing Syrians who were crossing the Mediterranean Sea and landing on Lesvos.
He started with very little in the way of equipment and supplies, but by working his social media skills he managed to build a well-supplied, globally supported kitchen that fed thousands of refugees every day.
The people that came to Lesvos in hope of entering Europe and finding safety had come through hellish circumstances, he indicated. Their homes and neighbourhoods had been bombed, friends and family members killed.
They packed up their meagre belongings and walked 1,000 kilometers, and then crossed the treacherous sea, thousands more dying on the water because the boats were unfit for the sea.
“This is what refugees go through,” Haries said.
Haries put the word out on Facebook that he was going to Lesvos. A thousand euros was quickly raised, and others enlisted to volunteer. In October he arrived. Suddenly he was no longer seeing images of the worst refugee crisis in recent times. He was in the middle of it.
“At first all I had was a cheese knife to cut vegetables,” he said.
But his effort soon went viral thanks to the power of Mashable, the online news and information site that reported on him.
Someone gave a thousand loaves of bread, which were used up in five days. Another donor shipped 28,000 bottles of water. Those, too, were soon used up. On one particular day he made 2,000 sandwiches – all gone in two hours. Supplies came in and quickly ran out. There were thousands of refugees on the island.
He spoke of the “deadliest day in Lesvos,” when a boat approached carrying 300 refugees. It capsized, and 75 drowned.
“When you see people drowning you can not just stand there and do nothing,” he said. “Because you are a human being, and they are also a human being.”
By not responding to the current crisis, people in the present day will influence outcomes for future generations in similar crisis situations, he said. There will be mass migrations in the future, and by setting a precedent of support now we set an example for people in the future to follow.
He encouraged the students and others in the audience to advocate for refugees by talking about the issue and contacting local members of parliament to push for policy change.
He urged students to volunteer on the ground of the crisis, whether working on local efforts to sponsor and welcome refugees, or to go abroad. And he asked people to donate their money and other resources to the effort.
The forum was organized by political science graduate students Yvonne Su and Tyler Valiquette, and Janet Doner of U of G Student Life.
U of G political scientists Ian Spears and Edward Koning were on the program, as were Guelph MP Lloyd Longfield, Guelph entrepreneur and philanthropist Jim Estill, the sponsor of 50 refugee families, and others.
Spears apologized to the gathering for his somewhat less optimistic view of the current crisis that has displaced half of Syria’s population. He admitted he is not hopeful for a positive, long-term resolution to the conflict that has ravaged the country.
The warring factions, he said, can not keep up the fight without outside backing. Russian and American military resources are in play. And while both nations are interested in peace, neither can be seen to back down given their global interests. Spears does not expect the conflict to end anytime soon.
Koning said the crisis has intensified conflict within the European Union, exacerbating tensions between native and non-native Europeans, emboldening anti-immigration advocates, even spurring neo-fascist factions. Europe is overwhelmed by the influx of refugees, and tensions are mounting.
Longfield was proud to report to the forum that the government’s goal to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada before the end of February was achieved, with 25,323 arriving. The government will soon announce plans to bring more to the country.
Estill, the president and CEO of Danby, has donated $1.5 million of his own money to bring 50 Syrian families to Guelph. Relative to the extraordinary numbers of families needing asylum, it is “so easy, and not a big deal” to settle 50 families here, he said.
“This is a humanitarian crisis and we need to do what we can do,” he said. “You are just helping people through a difficult time, helping them become a part of society.”
