Frontenac refugee support group welcomes Al Khalaf family

Jeff Green | Mar 02, 2016

It is a scene that has been replicated time and time again across the country.

Fifteen or so people gathered at the almost empty Kingston airport just before 1 o'clock on Saturday, February 27. As they chatted with each other in the lobby, Nancy Bayly was sitting in a far corner with Ron Albinet of the First Baptist Church of Kingston, and Dr. Mohamad Bayoumi of the Kingston Islamic Centre.

The First Baptist Church has provided an administrative home for the Frontenac Refugee Support Committee, a group of South Frontenac and Frontenac Islands residents who have been working for months to host a family from Syria. They reached out to Dr. Bayoumi for help with translation services when the family arrived.

The three of them greeted Frontenac County Warden Frances Smith, who trekked in from Over the Hills Road (back of Road 509) to provide greetings from the County to the newcomers and the four of them formed the official greeting committee. When the small plane arrived, everyone went over the window to get a first glimpse of the 10 members of the Al Khalaf family as they disembarked.

A few business commuters came off the plane first. Then came the family: a middle-aged man and woman, three young women, three young men, and two boys. They gathered for a second on the tarmac, shivering a bit against the cold, then headed in, the boys running ahead.

The support committee hastily unfurled a Welcome to Canada banner as the greeting party headed over to the door. Bright-eyed and smiling, the family reached forward to shake hands and share hugs.

After all the planning and all the waiting - several months for the support committee and several years for the Al Khalafs - they were here. One of the committee members rushed off to gather coats; there were many to choose from because the committee only had basic information about the Al Khalafs, the number and approximate ages of each person. They then got ready to drive off to their new home.

The committee had secured a one-year lease for a four-bedroom townhouse near the Kingston Centre for the family, and one of the volunteers was already back there, preparing a Syrian welcoming meal for supper. This week will be filled with bureaucratic details, health cards and Social Insurance Numbers, etc., as well as lining up English classes and schooling for the boys and young adults in the family.

The Al Khalafs are being sponsored by the Frontenac Refugee Committee and will also be receiving some support from the federal government. The group has already raised over $33,000 out of a preliminary goal of $45,000. There will be some support from the federal government, but the bulk of the responsibility for supporting the Al Khalafs for their first year in Canada falls to the committee.

At first, the committee was told that they were going to be hosting a six-member family, and then they found out they would be hosting a 12-member family. This has been the basis for their fundraising efforts. However, shortly before they learned that 10 members of the Al Khalaf family would be arriving on February 27, they also found that an additional four members will be arriving in the coming weeks, one of whom is pregnant and due to deliver in May.

“We are committed to supporting the family for a year financially, but the commitment doesn't end there. We will be following them until they are completely settled and making a contribution. Their priorities right now are to learn English, go to school, and find work, as soon as possible,” said committee member Ruth Allen.

The Al Khalafs are living in Kingston for the time being, even though they are being sponsored by Frontenac County residents.

“The services are in Kingston,” said committee member Nancy Bayly, “and the language training is in Kingston, so we decided early on that even though we are a Frontenac County group, we would look to find a place for them in Kingston to start off. They may move to Frontenac County once they are settled, but they are in Kingston for now.”

Of the 10 who arrived on Saturday, six will be attending school, starting this week.

Meanwhile, back at the airport, the adults were figuring out how to deal with the luggage and who was going to drive with whom. The two young boys, who had been fidgeting as all the greetings were taking place, broke free and bolted out of the terminal door to the parking lot. They veered left as they got out the door, chased each other for a minute, then finding a bit of snow, one of them gathered it up in his bare hands and threw the snow at the other.

The snow was not ideal for snowballs, but they did the best they could, laughing the whole time.