DIDSBURY - A group of residents have helped to bring a Syrian refugee family to Didsbury.
The family of four managed to escape war-torn Syria and had been living in Beirut, Lebanon until coming to Canada on Oct. 16.
Thanks to the generosity of community members, the family not only has a place to live but also furniture and other household items already in place for them in town.
Harold and Colleen Johnsrude were two of the main organizers behind bringing the family to Didsbury. They are members of the Zion Evangelical Missionary Church.
The Syrian family, the Horos, are pleased to be in Canada after spending the last five years in Lebanon after fleeing Syria.
The family consists of father Horik, mother Sherin and boys Shiyar and Ronyar.
"Canada is very good," said Sherin.
The family lived in Aleppo, Syria until 2012 when they fled to Lebanon.
"We saw the planes around our place with the bombs," she said. "It took 17 hours by bus. Lebanon and Syria are close to each other but they travelled the safe way (which was much longer). Even taking the safe way, behind us one of the buses was bombed."
The trip from Lebanon to Didsbury took 27 hours from start to finish.
The family is relieved to be in Canada and very thankful to everyone in Didsbury who helped out.
The two boys are both eager to begin school. Shiyar is 14, while younger brother Ronyar is eight.
"Canada is nice for studying," said Shiyar. "I want to go to school and finish and study technology and/or become a dentist or doctor."
The Johnsrudes were very happy to see the Syrian family after all the work the group has done.
"It's been quite a journey," said Harold. "And quite rewarding."
The Johnsrudes said the process of bringing a family from Syria over to Didsbury began at their church.
"We asked in the church who was interested in being involved in sponsoring a refugee family," said Harold. "There were those that were interested in that and so we met. We had a good group of individuals.
"From that we established what we called a core group with six families represented. The core group is the group that made the decisions and facilitated it. The others that were interested we've kept them informed and now they're more involved as the family arrives."
Harold said the initial idea of bringing Syrian refugees to the area came after watching the news.
"Back in 2015 we were watching the news and seeing all these refugees from Syria," he said. "We asked ourselves maybe we should be involved in a more direct way. So we started doing some research on it and that's how it started."
This is the first time the group has sponsored a refugee family.
The Refugee Welcoming and Resettlement Working Group of the Didsbury and Carstairs areas brought over a Syrian family before, settling them in Olds. That group was started through the Bergthal Mennonite Church.
Harold said the group has got some great information from other groups that have helped out refugees, including CrossRoads Church in Red Deer.
"They've been a great resource," he said. "They helped us pick the family. The process has gone quite well."
Harold said it's been a long process but has gone well. The group has worked with an organization called Christian and Missionary Alliance.
"They have been approved by the government as a sponsorship agreement holder," he said. "So we have all the information and it goes through this organization who made the application to immigration.
"That process started in late 2015 and the application was finalized the first of May in 2016. When there was an allocation opening in August of 2016 that's when it went to the government.
"The approval took place in the last month. So it's a fairly lengthy process. We've had to exercise patience but it's finally happened."
Harold said the screening of the refugees was conducted by Immigration Canada.
The whole process of bringing the family over and caring for them for one year is around $40,000, he said.
"Our core group developed a budget. Christian and Missionary Alliance identified different parameters to consider for a budget. We're responsible for the family for 12 months so we built a 12-month budget."
Harold said it will be important for the family to learn English, although a few of the members can already speak some of the language.
"Hopefully they will have employment within 12 months," he said. "In the meantime we provide support for them. Our net budget is $40,000. The big amount of the budget is when they get here.
"Although we did provide for them for the last year so they could survive in Beirut. We have been sending them funds each month since last April to help them with their living needs."
The group found a townhouse for the family to live in.
"We've taken out a rental agreement for it," he said. "I indicated $40,000 for a budget but also we wanted to have a lot of items donated. We were able to furnish that townhouse with all gifts-in-kind, good used furniture, appliance and so on."
The community has been very generous with donations -- not only the members of the church but the community at large, he said.
In response to the question of why not focus on helping local families, Harold said the church already has a Good Samaritan Fund to help in the community.
"We do provide funds to help those in the community that are in need," he said. "We try to do our part there. This family we brought over, we just can't relate to the turmoil they've gone through as a family.
"Leaving their community because relatives are getting killed by bombs; leaving for their safety with their whole city being destroyed. It's something that we just can't relate to."
