It’s been a long and frustrating wait, but the second Syrian refugee family is expected to arrive in Jasper within the next few weeks.
Omar Al Homosh and his wife Rola Al Dakhil, along with their three young boys, have been provisionally approved to come to Canada and are only waiting for their medical exams to be processed before they can begin their journey to Jasper.
“We’ve waited a long time,” said Beth Tower, who is sponsoring the family with her husband Rod.
“It’s been almost three years for us when you think about when we first started to get Omar and his family here so it’ll be great to finally get them here so they can get started on their new life.”
She said she’s excited to finally meet them in person, but it will likely take another two or three weeks before they are on Canadian soil.
“Omar sent me a video a few weeks ago when they told their middle son they were going to move to Canada and the boy was running around in circles saying, ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’ in English, he was so happy,” said Tower.
Rod first met Al Homosh in Syria while working as an engineer for Petro-Canada, but was forced to say goodbye to his friend and colleague in October 2011, because of the precarious security situation in the country.
He then watched in disbelief as the conflict spiraled out of control, forcing Al Homosh and his family to flee to Cairo, Egypt, where the family of five has been since June 2012.
About a year later, Al Homosh contacted Rod asking if there was anyway he could help get his family out of Egypt.
The urgency to help the family became even more apparent when the Tower family learned Al Homosh, who had picked up an engineering contract in Iraq, was stuck in Turkey and couldn't get back into Egypt because of increasingly restrictive immigration rules.
After spending 241 days separated from his wife and three sons, ages 8, 11 and 13, Al Homosh was finally reunited with his family in Egypt to begin the arduous task to get to Canada.
“I think they’re looking forward to getting here and getting things started,” said Beth, adding they already have a fully furnished apartment for the family when they arrive.
To date the community has raised nearly $60,000 to support two Syrian refugee families. The first family arrived in late February.
According to the government, more than 27,000 Syrian refugees have arrived in Canada since December 2015, surpassing the government’s original goal to resettle 25,000 refugees by the end of February.
Beth said she is grateful for all of the generosity from the community over the past few months and is still looking for three bikes to give to the boys when they arrive.
“We could not have done this without the community’s support.”
Paul Clarke
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