Braille brilliance
Fairfield girl wins national braille writing contest Page A5
NEWS: Dry Jan challenges residents to go sober /A4 ARTS: Transforming used light bulbs into art /A9 COMMUNITY: Vic West resident picks up Vision Award /A11
VICTORIANEWS Wednesday, January 6, 2016
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Syrian family settling into life in Victoria Family of five arrived nearly three weeks ago Pamela Roth Victoria News
In the living room of his two-bedroom Esquimalt apartment, Osama beams from ear-to-ear as he points at a flat-screen television sitting on a table. “TV?” he asks cautiously. I nod with approval, then look at his wife Hanadi, holding her wideeyed eight-month-olddaughter Loujain. Hanadi points at the table in the dining room and tries to say the word table in English. Their two boys, Abdul-Rachman, 5, and eight-year-old Zaid are glued to a computer playing games. It’s been nearly three weeks since the young Syrian family flew from Jordan to Victoria. They are eager to learn English and settle into their new life in Canada. Osama’s face lights up with every English word he can add to his limited vocabulary. “The people of
Victoria are very kind,” he says with the help of a phone translater. “The difficulty is the language and knowing the area, but there is good support.” Ever since the family arrived in Victoria in mid-December, they’ve been assisted by the group of five Victoria couples who helped bring them here. For about a year, Michael and Shelley Wuitchik had been thinking about ways to help Syrian refugees. Once they saw the shocking photo of the body of three-year-old Alan Kurdi washed up on a Turkish beach in September, the couple decided to put their thoughts into action. (Kurdi drowned after the boat his family was on from Turkey to Greece capsized.) The Wuitchik’s rounded up a group of four like-minded couples, pooled their resources together, and came up with $36,000 to sponsor a Syrian family and cover their costs for the first year
Don Denton/Victoria News
Touch down Crew and passengers aboard a Harbour Air 1960 De Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter sea plane have a clear view of the Coast Guard ice breaking ship, Sir Wilfred Laurier as they come in for landing in Victoria’s harbour. The ship was built in Collingwood, Ontario in 1986 and is stationed in Victoria.
in Canada. Ottawa chipped in another $9,000. They’re also working with the Inter-Cultural Association (ICA) of Greater Victoria — the sponsorship agreement holder, meaning it has signed sponsorship
agreements with the federal government to help refugees settle in Canada. The group (known as a constituency group) wasn’t informed the family of five was coming to Victoria until three days prior to
their arrival. Making the 48-hour journey included stops in Toronto, where they met the Governor General, then Calgary where they were on their own to navigate through the airport. Unsure if anyone would be meeting
them in Victoria, the family arrived to see the smiling faces of the five couples who helped get them here. Michael couldn’t help but feel emotional. “It was very moving. It was kind of a thrill when the 25-yearold woman (Hanadi)
kissed her (Shelley) three times on the cheek and she smiled,” said Michael, noting the family looked relieved the long journey was over. PlEASE SEE: Language a big hurdle, Page A3
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