Amena's Story
A few weeks ago we met Amena. She was introduced to us by the folks at Mennonite Central Committee. Amena has been in Edmonton for three years. She came here as a refugee from the war in Syria. Amena and her family are safe, but she left a sister behind and now she is doing everything she can to help her sister and family to reach safety. Refugee Response Collective is helping Amena in her effort to raise $30,000 to sponsor her sister, brother in law and their four children. Here is the story of Souad, Amena's sister, as told by Amena.
Souad was born and grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus. I called her my Souad and Souad in Arabic means "happiness". She always makes me happy. Before she got married, she studied education. After 16 years of teaching she did a Masters degree in education. One year she won the Children's Literature Award. Souad is a mother of four children. She lived in Almayaden and she worked as a teacher for 22 years. Her four children and her husband, Abboud went through a lot of pain during the war. In 2012 her husband left because, like many Syrian men, he was in danger. As a teacher, Souad stayed and volunteered extra hours to teach the refugee children who were coming from various towns to Almayaden. When ISIS took control of their town, her and the six male teachers of her volunteer group, all left for safety. She spent 20 hours in the desert, running with four children. She was stopped, thought her life was over, and finally made it to the capital, Damascus. In 2014, when her oldest son turned 18, she sent him to join his Dad so he would not be conscripted into the government forces or worse. At the end of 2015, Souad became a refugee for the second time when she left for Lebanon with her remaining three children.
Her husband, Abboud, is an artist and art teacher since 1988. He worked hard to live as an artist, and had a successful studio in his hometown, with all his relatives. But when the war started, he was a target and experienced death threats. He was forced to leave his family, his town, his country and his art. His art was destroyed after ISIS took control and now this week, they also destroyed his studio with bombs. He has lived as a UN refugee in Lebanon, for the past three years.
Souad was born and grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus. I called her my Souad and Souad in Arabic means "happiness". She always makes me happy. Before she got married, she studied education. After 16 years of teaching she did a Masters degree in education. One year she won the Children's Literature Award. Souad is a mother of four children. She lived in Almayaden and she worked as a teacher for 22 years. Her four children and her husband, Abboud went through a lot of pain during the war. In 2012 her husband left because, like many Syrian men, he was in danger. As a teacher, Souad stayed and volunteered extra hours to teach the refugee children who were coming from various towns to Almayaden. When ISIS took control of their town, her and the six male teachers of her volunteer group, all left for safety. She spent 20 hours in the desert, running with four children. She was stopped, thought her life was over, and finally made it to the capital, Damascus. In 2014, when her oldest son turned 18, she sent him to join his Dad so he would not be conscripted into the government forces or worse. At the end of 2015, Souad became a refugee for the second time when she left for Lebanon with her remaining three children.
Her husband, Abboud, is an artist and art teacher since 1988. He worked hard to live as an artist, and had a successful studio in his hometown, with all his relatives. But when the war started, he was a target and experienced death threats. He was forced to leave his family, his town, his country and his art. His art was destroyed after ISIS took control and now this week, they also destroyed his studio with bombs. He has lived as a UN refugee in Lebanon, for the past three years.
If you would like to help to bring this family to Edmonton you can donate to her fund through Mennonite Central Committee using this link: https://donate.mcccanada.ca/registry/amena-shehab-sponsorship-group
Co-founders of Edmonton's Refugee Response Collective find joy in giving |
When Sarah Cashmore and Marianne Watchel met by chance outside the Italian Centre shop last spring, they had more than shopping on their minds. Both women were angry with the federal government’s response to what was happening in Syria and the plight of its people. “Where are our refugees? Why is Canada not bringing in refugees?” Cashmore remembers ranting to Watchel, whom she’s known for more than 20 years. After deciding that they had to do something, they went their separate ways. When September rolled round, Watchel rang up Cashmore and said, “We’ve got to do this.” Both started calling people they knew, and within a few days had pulled together 45 people to create the Refugee Response Collective. “Marianne is really involved in the arts community and I’m involved in international development so we had, right there, two really good groups to draw from,” Cashmore says. The collective includes doctors, nurses, artists, former peacekeepers who have served in Syria and local members of Women in Black (a worldwide network of women committed to peace and justice). All share the same concerns about Syria and Syrian refugees. Their common goals are to sponsor one or two refugee families and to raise funds for the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) to aid in its work in refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. Because it’s a collective, people offer what they can, Watchel says. A diverse range of gifts includes the $1,500 raised by a woman who lives on a farm, has goats and makes cheese. She raised the money by holding two cheesemaking workshops. The group has also held a fundraiser concert featuring The Tarabish Collective, Middle Eastern musicians who played Syrian folk music and jammed with other local musicians. The Refugee Response Collective has raised $30,000 so far, half of it for sponsorships, the other half to go to refugee camps. Its goal is $100,000 by June. The group’s success is due to the amazing people in the collective, they say, and to their complementary skills as co-founders. “I’m the rules and procedures person,” says Cashmore. “And I’m the ‘Let’s go!’ ” adds Watchel. Cashmore agrees, describing Watchel, an abstract painter, as “passionate and energetic. If you want to get something done, call Marianne.” Watchel says Cashmore is “experienced and I know she will think of things I won’t. And she’s really dedicated to addressing inequality.” “As is Marianne,” says Cashmore. “We’re very different, but I’d say that’s where we meet.” For 10 years, Cashmore has been a full-time volunteer with the Sombrilla International Development Society, a non-denominational, non-partisan organization based in Edmonton, that partners with communities in Latin America on development projects. She has also sponsored two families from Kosovo. Her social conscience was born of the family culture she and her husband, Jeff Goldie built. “We felt it was important for our kids to see something other than Canada, so we went to Ecuador for six months when they were young. But we have also seen poverty here at home.” After Ecuador, “I just knew what I wanted to do: something that would make the world a bit more equal,” she says. “Often things are not the way they should be. You can’t change everything, but you can do a little bit.” Watchel’s role model, growing up in small-town Denzel, Sask., was her mother. “She was a really responsive woman. She had no problem opening her house to people who needed it, and we often had people (cousins), living with us.” Both women spend a part of almost every day doing some work related to their Refugee Response Collective. Watchel said she made a three-year commitment to the group based on Cashmore’s experience that a refugee family requires about three years of support. Cashmore’s involvement has been so extensive that she’s done nothing to prepare for Christmas. “It’s just taken over our lives, but I care about it enough to plow through.” What do they get out of doing this work? “I think there’s a very thin skin between giving and getting, is the reality,” Watchel says. Cashmore has another way of looking at it. “I think we all just have to take care of each other and I hope people in the world would do the same for me if Canada was hit by some incredible disaster and we all had to flee for our lives,” she explains. It’s a matter of “what world do you want?” Watchel adds. “And if you know what that is you know what you have to do.” czdeb@edmontonjournal.com Published on: December 18, 2015 | Edmonton Journal |
We just want to provide a quick pre-holiday update. We are coming close to our sponsorship goal and our friends at MCC have asked us to consider sponsoring a family of 6 who have a family member already here in Edmonton. We have templates for thank you cards and gift cards ready for use. The Help for the Homeless event was wonderful, thanks to Lisi Sommer.
This will be our last update before Christmas, but the activity continues with donations coming in everyday. We have had a number of requests for thank you cards that can be sent out to donors and for gift cards saying money has been donated in the recipients name. Anne Fanning has produced a template for the cards as well as a letter asking people to donate, all of which can be found in the google docs at the RRC email account in the cards and letters folder. If you would prefer to have us email the templates to you just send us an email. Also Anne has volunteered to send thank you cards and letter for the group so if you would like her to do the thank you for your donors please send us an email with names and mailing addresses and she will take care of it.
The Help for the Homeless event took place on Friday evening at the Yardbird Suit. It was lots of fun with some fantastic musicians playing. Many people came by our table to chat and support us. We are very grateful to the organizer Lisi Sommer for supporting RRC at the concert. The fundraising is going very well. We don't have exact numbers yet but we are at somewhere around $28,000 so congratulations everyone for the huge effort. It is looking like we might make our sponsorship goal by the end of the year. I heard from the finance department at MCC today and they have received all our contributions but haven't had a chance to process them yet, so that is why our page with MCC is still showing only $5000. Orlando at MCC contacted us today to see if we would consider sponsoring a family of 6. They have a relative here in Edmonton but she does not have the resources to sponsor the family herself. They will send us more information and set up a meeting with the woman here if we decide we are interested in doing that. We still haven't heard anything from Catholic Social Services about our offer to help out with the government sponsored families. We need to be patient at present as everyone involved with refugee settlement is working full out and they are all swamped. It's been an amazing few weeks for the Refugee Response Collective as we have moved from our first tentative gathering of people who" just wanted to do something" to having completed our first big fundraiser. Thank you everyone who got involved at planning meetings, baking and volunteering for Just Christmas, sitting at info tables, chasing down silent auction items, asking for donations, and volunteering at the Safe and Sound Fundraiser.
So here are the numbers everyone has been waiting for. There is still money from Safe and Sound trickling in but the event raised over $15,000. Congratulations everyone! As well as that, we have received donations and raised money at smaller events to bring us to $20,000 for our sponsorship. That means we have only $10,000 to reach our sponsorship goal. We also have made a start in raising money for humanitarian aid to the refugee camps. We made a decision to prioritize sponsorship at first so that we can get the process of relocation a family underway as quickly as possible. As soon as that is done we will focus more on humanitarian aid. The next event in support of RRC is Help for the Homeless: A Christmas Party with a Conscience, on December 18th at the Yardbird Suite at 7 pm. This event organized by Lisi Sommers is in benefit of the Jasper Place Wellness Centre and McCauley Seniors Drop in Centre which serve people locally and to Refugee Response Collective to address the homelessness of refugees. There is an amazing line-up of musicians performing. Entrance is cash only at the door with a suggested donations of $25. We will have a table at the event. If you would like to volunteer to spend and hour or two at the table let us know. Once again huge thanks to everyone who has taken part in getting us to where we are today. |
Help for the Homeless:
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Location
Yardbird Suite - Edmonton's Jazz Venue
11 Tommy Banks Way, Edmonton, AB T6E 2M2 |