Syrian family to move into converted convent in St. Andrews

The old convent in rural St. Andrews, N.S.,had been for sale for more than a year when the Sisters of St.Martha concluded that fate or something more powerful was tellingthem the big, empty home had a higher purpose.

In September, within a few weeks of Pope Francis urging moreparishes to take in Syrian refugees, the nuns had turned theirattention to making the house available when a call came from alocal group thinking the same thing.

"Maybe it wasn't meant to be sold," says Sister BrendaleeBoisvert, the order's congregation leader. "Maybe this was alwaysin the mind and heart of the Holy Spirit that we would always havea family enjoy this home that we enjoyed for 87 years."

With the help of the religious order, volunteers with theTri-Heart Society are now preparing for the arrival of a privately-sponsored Syrian family of six who have been living in a camp inLebanon.

They're going to come carrying what it feels like to bedisplaced, but this community is ready.- SisterBrendaleeBoisvert

The volunteers have been told the family's 43-year-old father isan electrician and welder, and his 39-year-old wife has secretarialskills. They have three sons ages 16, 13 and six and aneight-year-old daughter.

Little else is known about the family, except that they speakArabic and the eldest son speaks some English.

Tri-Heart has raised more than $30,000 for living expenses. Aswell, the seven-room convent has been cleaned up, stocked withsupplies and is accepting donated furniture.

Easing the transition to rural life

A cozy living room with a flat-screen TV has replaced a smallchapel. School supplies sit in neat piles on a small desk in anupper bedroom. And when the call went out last week for a kitchentable and chairs, a donated set showed up the next morning.

While there's no question the nuns and volunteers have the bestinterests of the refugees at heart, the question remains: is aquiet, rural corner of eastern Nova Scotia an appropriate place tosettle a family from a war zone?

Boisvert says she knows there will be challenges.

"They're going to come carrying what it feels like to bedisplaced, but this community is ready."

Harry Daemen, a retired engineer and chairman of Tri-Heart, saysthe group has consulted with three local schools to ensure they areready for their new students. As well, several Arabic-speakingresidents have come forward to help, including some professors atSt. Francis Xavier University in nearby Antigonish.

And there's more to the community than dairy farms andcornfields, says Daemen.

"On any given Friday night, the community hall is full, thecurling rink, too, and the elementary school (next to the convent)is always having a meetings," he says. "It's not a little villagethat doesn't have things happening."

More importantly, St. Andrews population 1,100 has awell-earned reputation for welcoming newcomers.

History of helping

Daemen was a toddler when he and his family first arrived in thearea as part of a wave of Dutch immigrants looking for farm landafter the Second World War.

"Somebody had to sponsor you for a year," he says, noting aparallel with the Syrian family.

"It is a community that has been welcoming people ever since thefirst Scots set foot in St. Andrews (in the early 1800s). And thatwill continue."

MaryAnn Forbes, another member of Tri-Heart and also a Dutchimmigrant, recalls how she helped a family of Vietnamese boat peoplewho were resettled near her family's farm in the early 1980s.

The family used only the lower floor of their donated home whenthey first arrived, she says, adding, "They didn't feel free to useit all until they were told."

Daemen says the residents of St. Andrews are keen to help theSyrian family adapt, but there's more to what is happening at theconvent than a simple act of charity.

"The immigration cycles of the past have kept us healthy andrenewed," he says."We need an injection of new cultures, peopleand new thoughts."

Nova Scotia has offered to settle up to 1,500 refugees but it'sunclear when they will start arriving. To date, more than 100 groupshave raised money, including 51 in Halifax alone.