A refugee family from Syria is set to call Dresden home.
The family of four – mother, father and two boys ages nine and 15 – fled Aleppo sometime in 2015. The area where they lived was being heavily bombed and war was coming directly into their neighbourhood. They fled to Lebanon and remain there today.
The Dresden Christian Reformed Church has stepped up and has sponsored the family.
Dresden’s Joseph Grootenboer, who is helping organize the initiative for the church, said they have committed to providing support to the family for one full year.
“One year of support in pretty much every way,” Grootenboer said.
“Money wise that means making sure they have a place to live, food to eat. The bigger burden is usually the support of taking them for everything they need to do to to become a resident here. Registering them for many things. Getting them settled for education for the children, health care for the whole family. Everything that a new person would need to get ready including, driver’s licence, a job.”
Grootenboer added: “We need to get these people integrated into society both for everything that has to do with finance and living, but also socially too. We have to get them living here and settled in. Any sponsoring group’s commitment is one year in which we as a sponsoring group take care of them.”
Grootenboer said the family coming to Dresden is not government-sponsored.
“Government sponsored are cared for by the government using taxpayers dollars,” he said.
“We can access a lot of programs and many of them are just programs that all Canadians enjoy the use of. There is support for English as a second language, which is true for any new Canadian or anybody that needs that help. The sponsoring group in a private sponsor and takes care of everything for one year.”
Grootenboer said they do not know for certain when the family will arrive.
“The family was given a notice to be ready about two weeks ago which was kind of the last push before the government reached their 25,000,” he said.
“They had to be ready any day and they have been in that state now for two weeks. So we don’t know when the next plane for them will be. We expect to get two or three days notice, but nothing more than that. So right now we don’t know. It could be days, it could be weeks or it could be months.”
Grootenboer said eight people are a part of a refugee committee within the church. which formed just before Christmas.
Overall the church community is being very supportive.
“We are ready with a lot of what is needed,” he said. “Since they have that notice we have to be ready with a place for them. We hope they come soon. Of course for their own safety, to get them out of their unsecured and unsafe situation. They are in Lebanon right now with no home right now and really not much in the way of security.”
The Dresden Christian Reformed Church is no stranger to helping refugees, Grootenboer said.
“They have been active in refugee sponsorship at different times,” he said. “Now with the Syrian crisis its sparked up interest in this kind of ministry again.”
Grootenboer said they plan on settling this family in Dresden to start with.
“The refugee family will decide to go wherever their future lives in Canada take them, but initially we are settling them in Dresden,” he said.
“We believe Dresden is a great home for ourselves and we hope to share that with them and that they will like it here as much as we do. Dresden will be ready to be welcoming in anyway they can in general. They will live right here in the community. In a small community like this we all know each other and we all care for one another too. We look forward to seeing that extended to them.”
If anybody is interested in contributing they can contact Grootenboer at thisisjoseph@hotmail.com.
– Submitted photo: The children of the Dresden Christian Reformed Church created some artwork to welcome the Syrian refugee family at the airport and at a celebration dinner after they arrive in Dresden. Here, Kole Kramer is hard at work, with Simon Smids peeking in behind.
