Advocate Harbour welcomes Syrian refugees, but will they stay?

This is part of a special series from CBC Nova Scotia on the efforts of the smallest community in Nova Scotia to take in refugees. Follow our coverage on our website, on CBC Radio's Information Morning and we'll be broadcasting live from Advocate Harbour on March 10.

The tiny village of Advocate Harbour, on the Bay of Fundy coast in Nova Scotia's Cumberland County, is trying to convince its new Syrian refugee family to stay in the community for the long haul.

"We want to save this community. We need people to move here," said Catherine MacLean, a Halifax-based artist who owns a home in the village.

She's been trying to find a way to use her summer home to encourage a new family to move in and settle down. "And then we thought, why not a refugee family?"

From MacLean's idea came the movement Advocate for Refugees, a group of around 30 people both Advocate-born and more recent arrivals who decided bring a Syrian family to their community.

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Advocate Harbour is known for its beautiful scenery and commanding view of the coastline, but like many other rural communities it's facing the challenge of too few jobs and too many young people who feel they have to leave.

"We raised $17,000 in one month," says MacLean. The money came from donations as well as local fundraising.

Selfish altruism

MacLean and others, like local teacher Ariana Smith, make no bones about the selfish motivation behind attracting the refugees.

"Of course we want to help the refugees, but what we really need is more people. The school needs more children," said Smith.

Smith is co-chair of Advocate for Refugees. Her part-time teaching job means she has a vested interest in bringing children to Advocate Harbour.

Advocate District School has just 56 students from Primary to Grade 12, so the arrival of two new pupils is a major event.

Change of life

The Syrian family of four welcomed into the village includes eight-year-old Karim Alboush and his six-year-old brother, Imad.

Neither have never been to school before. Much of their life before Advocate Harbour was spent in a refugee camp in Jordan.

Just a few weeks into their new life they are already absorbing a new language. But they are not the only ones being changed by this experience.

"The other students go home to educate their parents and grandparents, opening their eyes to how fortunate they are to live in this place," said Smith.

The Alboushs certainly know how fortunate they are. Their home in Syria was destroyed by war.

But there are challenges ahead. Karim and Imad's father, Majed Alboush, is a tailor, a job with limited potential in a community heavily dependent on natural resources and tourism.

He and his wife Abir are learning English and adapting to a life as far from the crowded, regimented world of a refugee camp as it is possible to get.

Their new home lies a hundred metres from the ocean, a vast view they have never experienced before, one that fills their horizon and separates them from their past.

The people of Advocate Harbour hope the fierce determination to integrate these newest arrivals will be enough to keep them there.