![]() Next Monday is a holiday and we would like to invite you to an all-ages meet and greet drop-in for the Akil family from 2 to 4pm. The event will be held at the Indoor Playground and party space at the Vineyard Church at 1129 Sackville Dr. Please park at the back of the building and use the door marked for this event. There is a large area for kids to play and adults to visit together. We will be providing some light snacks and beverages, but please consider bringing some of your favourite leftover holiday treats to share. The Akil family is a complete joy to be around. We are looking very forward to more people to know them. As a community we have much to offer them, but in the hours I have spent with them I have learned that they have much to offer us. Khansaa has a suprizing amount of English, and Asil speaks very good french, but we will also try and have a translator available for the event. It will be exciting to have the Refugees Belong Community together in one place. See you all next Monday!
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My apologies Refugees Belong community for not updating you sooner, it has been a busy weekend!
After 24 hours of travel the Akil family arrived in Halifax late Friday night. They had no idea what to expect upon landing and were overcome with emotion that there were people there to meet and welcome them. Maria, age 2, slept though landing and our greeting, but woke up when we went outside to get to the parking garbage and the snow starting hitting her face! What a way to wake up in a new country and climate. I want to start out by saying that having spent a number of hours with Safwan, Khanssa, Asil and Maria this weekend, that they are a completely wonderful family! I am overwhelmed by their courage, their drive to succeed and their incredible hospitality even as they are the ones in a strange place. It was a complete joy to get to be with them. We learned that they managed to escape Syria four years ago, although most of their extended family is still trapped there. They have been living and working in Lebanon and have come to Canada in the hope for a future for their girls. They have worked hard at learning English and we are able to communicate more than we anticipated. Getting them into language classes is still a top priority, and the sooner the better, because they are ready to fully embrace life in Canada! I hope many of you will have the pleasure of meeting them soon. A community meet and greet is in the works for Monday, January 2, which is a holiday here in Nova Scotia. If anyone who is better at planning events than me, would like to jump in and help with that, or know a local business that would like to support the event, please contact me through refugeesbelong@gmail.com. Thank you to everyone for making this dream a reality. |
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December 2016
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