The People You Will Be Helping

Bringing loved ones together from across the seas – a Syrian refugee reunification project.

Application #3, youngest brother Fakker, Zainab with Younis
Front: Mamoud, Yousef, Loukman

Application #1 – Mother Salha currently lives in a small bedroom with her daughter (below), sharing an apartment with her son’s family (above) in Tripoli. *Application started!*

Application #2, sister Iktidar has 3 children in Syria for whom she wants to create a life in Canada and have them come here to go to school and prosper. *Application started!*

Currently, this extended family of 8 are living in Lebanon as refugees in a very basic 3 bedroom apartment in a block with many other refugees, mostly Palestinians.

Their sister, Iftikar, who came to Manitoba in 2016 as a refugee, sends money every month to pay for rent and the Internet so they can stay connected; they use a battery that they charge when electricity is available so they can have the Internet.

Application #4 – Nephew Mohammed is currently living in a refugee camp tent with his mother and some siblings.

Mohamed’s father was killed leaving mosque one Friday in Syria ten years ago when a bomb blew up just in front of it, leaving his mom a widow with 9 children. His father was a high school Science teacher and the sole breadwinner of the family.
In February, his motorbike, which he used to go from the refugee camp to the store where he works with his mom and brother in the nearest town, was stolen by some Lebanese boys who surrounded him and took it. He wants to come to Canada to go to school and feel safer.

Applications # 5 & 6 – Sister Ibtihal’s family: Horiyya, Mariam, Ibtihal with Salha, Tarek, Khoder, and Bilal

Tarek is a baker and cooks up sweet treats with his sons and/or nephews when there is work available. Work is precarious for Syrians displaced in Lebanon, so it may be one day here and a week there or nothing at all. None of the kids are in school or have been for 10 years.

Ibtihal’s family live in a 2-bedroom apartment in a block near her brothers’ blocks, on an estate mostly inhabited by refugees from countries around Lebanon.

Application #7 – Sister Bassila with Aya and Abdel with Yaacoub

Bassila’s family lives in an apartment block on the same estate as her brother and sister (above). Abdel finds work when he can but it’s not reliable. Again, the kids have never been to school, but want to.

We are waiting for them in Portage la Prairie, a city of 13 000 about an hour west of Winnipeg…with skates! and hot chocolate! and hugs 🙂

To help:

To receive a charitable tax receipt, mail (or drop off) your cheque to:
St. Mary’s la Prairie
36 – 2nd Street SW,
Portage la Prairie, MB R1N 2A1
(make cheque out to St Mary’s la Prairie Anglican Church and in the Memo line write: Project Reunite!) Please make sure the cheque is in an envelope with Project Reunite on the outside.

If no charitable tax receipt is needed, you can e-transfer donations to ProjectReunite@shaw.ca

Iftikar’s family of 5 here in Canada has worked really hard to put away just over $20,000; however, we need full amounts in an account before we can start applications, which is why we are now fundraising.

To read more about Iftikar’s family’s accomplishments in the short 5 years they’ve been here, please go to this pag e. To read her husband’s obituary, go here.

Thank you so much for your time and interest in our project! If you are interested in volunteering your time once they arrive, or you have any questions, please let us know by emailing the Co-Sponsors of this project, Sheri Blaylock & Iftikar Al Houlani.