Common cause unites diverse communities

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This article was published 18/04/2015 (3894 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

You know the bumper sticker with different religious symbols spelling the word “coexist”? That’s what’s driving a number of very different groups in Winnipeg that want to help Syrian refugees settle in Manitoba.

“It’s incredibly impressive when all these groups are working together,” said Rev. Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd at Westworth United Church, spokeswoman for Refuge Winnipeg.

The group of Jews, Muslims, Anglicans, members of the Unitarian Universalist church, atheists and others have raised nearly two-thirds of the $120,000 needed to settle and support three large Syrian families expected in Winnipeg any day now.

“That’s a minor miracle,” Shepherd said.

“Communities that would not normally be open to different politics, sexual identities and orientations are opening their doors and arms to embrace this,” said Shepherd. “Those normally at odds… are together in a common project.”

They’re raising money, looking for housing and collecting clothing and furniture for the families who are among the more than three million refugees who fled Syria. The civil war there, now in its fifth year, has killed 220,000 people and there is no end in sight. The families being sponsored by Refuge Winnipeg are living in Beirut, nine to a shack, and have experienced deprivation and trauma, said Shepherd. They’re targets of the Syrian government because they have close relatives who were killed or locked up by the Bashar Assad regime, she said. They cannot legally work in Lebanon and survive on meagre aid from the United Nations. Each family has a mom and a dad and young children.

The oldest child is 15 and one child has a prosthetic leg following an injury sustained during a demonstration early in the troubles.

They have already been interviewed by Citizenship and Immigration Canada officials in Lebanon, said Shepherd. They are waiting to come to Winnipeg where they have a close relative who is a Canadian citizen.

Refuge Winnipeg was formed to privately sponsor the Syrian families.

Shepherd said there are “amazing stories” of generosity. An anonymous member of the First Unitarian Universalist Church promised to match donations of church members, contributing $10,000 to Refuge Winnipeg so far.

On Easter Sunday — at one of the best-attended services of the year — four United Church congregations took up a collection for Refuge Winnipeg. A group called Carlos and the Suspiroes are having a CD-launch party Sunday night at St. Mary’s Road United Church and donating the proceeds to Refuge Winnipeg.

The word is getting out to the community at large, and people are stepping up to help welcome the refugees from Syria, Shepherd said.

‘Communities that would not normally be open to different politics, sexual identities and orientations are opening their doors and arms to embrace this’

— Rev. Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd

“I receive questions about it wherever I go,” she said.

“I was at a seniors place and some asked me questions about how the (Refuge Winnipeg) project is going, and one resident pulled out their chequebook and wrote a cheque for $1,000,” she said. “I was stunned.”

More than money and housing will be needed when the Syrian families get to Winnipeg. They’ll need guidance and mentorship, help with transportation and school enrolment for the children, English classes for the adults and orientation to Canadian culture, Winnipeg weather, shopping and essential services.

Donations and volunteers are still needed to support their settlement in Winnipeg, said Shepherd. For information contact refugewinnipeg@gmail.com.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca