An enthusiastic group of interested people from the community met at the Catholic church on July 20th to learn about the process of sponsoring a refugee family from war ravaged Syria. Although a specific family has not been identified, the consensus of the group was that immediate action must be taken to apply and support a family moving into Oliver. The goal of the meeting was to gauge community support for the project and identify the various aspects that must be addressed such as: housing, education, employment, cultural orientation, and transportation.
Summerland United Church Minister David Sparks was also in attendance to inform and encourage the group. Sparks heads up a group of approximately 25 people in Summerland whom have already sponsored the recently arrived Albetar family from Syria. The family is currently learning English so that they can go to school in the fall, and subsequently get work to be self-supporting. In Sparks’ words , “just do it! It will be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life.” The Albetar family is Muslim, and the people sponsoring them are predominantly Christian. Asked whether this has caused any problems in Summerland, the four people in attendance from the Refugee committee all said ‘No, absolutely not. They have been welcomed throughout the community and are seen as regular people, saved from a bad situation. The support, both financial and moral, has been great.”
Syria is in the midst of a civil war and fully 11 million of its 23 million people have been displaced from their homes. Almost 4 million of those people are in Refugee camps in neighbouring countries, and almost half of those 4 million refugees are children under the age of 18. Canada has made a commitment to bring in 10,000 refugees over the next 3 years from Syria.
After the presentation, the audience of about 30 people asked many questions and ended the evening by forming a steering committee to start the sponsorship process in Oliver. Anyone interested in helping, please contact Dale Dodge (498 4014) or Louise Szalay (498 – 6604.) tszalay@telus.net.