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The voice of Delta since 1922
Settling into new lives
2016
Delta Safe Haven helping three Syrian refugee familes adjust to life in Ladner JESSICA KERR
Awards
j ke r r @ d e l t a - o p t i m i s t .c o m
South Delta’s Syrian refugee families are settling into their new lives in Canada. “In the beginning, it was hard for them,” they say through interpreter Lokman Alshibi. “They’re doing really well, they understand life here now.” Mansour and Ensaf Al Nuaimi and their five children, and Mohammad and Nour Al Mohammad and their four children, arrived in Ladner in January. The two families fled Syria after the civil war broke out. They took shelter at a refugee camp in neighbouring Jordan. The camp, which they described as “hell,” became home for the next three years. They arrived in Vancouver on Christmas Day and after spending two weeks at Welcome House, which is run by the Immigrant Services Society of B.C., moved to Ladner. The children are now doing well in school and the adults are working on learning English. “They find people really welcoming,” Alshibi said. “Really helpful and supportive.” Delta Safe Haven, which has been working to help the families settle into life in Canada, has since welcomed a third Syrian family to Ladner. Muhanad Azizi and his wife Nariman arrived in Ladner at the end of February. The young couple had been married just a few months when civil war broke out in 2011. They lived in Daraa, in the southern portion of the country, as did the other families. She was going to uni-
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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2016
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Readers get to choose favourites
PHOTO BY JESSICA KERR
Syrian refugee Muhanad Azizi (second from left) sits outside Ladner United Church with Delta Safe Haven coordinators Diane Schmidt (far left) and Jim Short (far right) and interpreter Lokman Alshibi. versity studying French while he worked in furniture upholstery. “It was a perfect life,” they said of the time before the war. “Like the same life everywhere in the world. It was really safe.” When war broke out, they moved around Syria and then to a refugee camp in Jordan. They
stayed there for almost a month before moving to the city of Areed after applying to come to Canada as refugees. They were able to find an apartment and Muhanad found employment but the opportunities were limited. The apartment was small and the job was low
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paying. They stayed there for four years before getting the call from the United Nations that they had been accepted to immigrate to Canada. The couple flew to Montreal before making the move to Vancouver. FAMILIES: see Page 3
It’s that time of year again for Optimist readers to pick their favourite shops and services in South Delta. Voting for the 2016 Readers’ Choice Awards gets underway today, both in print and online. The ballot is on pages 16 and 17 of today’s edition, allowing readers to make their selections in more than 80 categories. They can also tell us about their favourite products and merchants. Once readers fill it out, they can drop it off at the Optimist office, 5008-47A Ave., Ladner, or at the Pharmasave in Tsawwassen. The ballot can also be filled out online by visiting www. delta-optimist.com. There is a limit of one entry per person. Entry deadline is Sunday, May 15. Winners will be announced in a special Readers’ Choice Awards section that will be published in mid-June.
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