FALL RIVER: The story of a Syrian refugee family with Fall River connections and how they came to Canada was enlightening for the Parliament Secretary to Immigration to hear.
At Sackville-Preston-Chezzetcook Liberal MP Darrell Samson’s office in Fall River, Matt Decourcey, the MP for Fredericton, listened intently to the almost 90 minute talk from Wassem and Nour Baroud, who came to Canada thanks to the Riverlakes Syrian Refugee Project, their sponsors.
“We made an application and our commitment was 12 refugees or three families of four,” recalled Riverlakes chairwoman Sue MacLean. “We didn’t have to do any fundraising because we had four churches who are strong partners with each other in the community.
“We had a meeting with all of them and came to an agreement.”
By the time she left that meeting, the group had almost all the money they required to sponsor 12 refugees. It ended up they sponsored one family, 100 per cent.
MacLean said the Riverlakes group even had people from Bedford and Dartmouth on its volunteer base. They didn’t say no to anyone.
Nour and Wassem spoke of how once they were connected with Sue MacLean, the chairwoman of the volunteer-run Riverlakes Syrian Refugee Project, things went fast—although there were hiccups. They are celebrating two years in Canada.
“It was a rollercoaster ride,” said Nour. “One day in March 2017 she called me after we applied and she said there might not be time to get us this year so it might be next year. That was tough to hear.
“When Sue said that, I felt very bad. It was our big dream to come to Canada. Sue didn’t give up and look what happened.”
Wassem’s brother is in Halifax and has started to create some Balava, which they hope may take off just like the chocolates made by Peace by Chocolate in Antigonish.
In between bites of some Baklava made by Wassem’s brother, Decourcey and Samson listened in closely to hear from the Baroud’s and MacLean. Both seemed to enjoy hearing the story from the Baroud’s and MacLean about their experience and taking notes.
“There are so many good stories of the refugees who have come over and are making a good life for them,” said Decourcey. “We need to hear more about those stories.”
Nour and Wassem are well aware they hit the jackpot in being sponsored by the Riverlakes group and connecting with MacLean.
“We were lucky we have friends in Canada before we came,” said Wassem.
