Sponsored Syrian refugees prepare to go it alone

If Syrian refugeesJehadAlsebaee andNirmeenAlsebai had written up a to-do list of things they wanted to accomplish in their first year in Ottawa, there would be plenty of check marks by now.

Apartment rented andfurnished check.

The couple's four young childrensettled into school and daycare check.

Make new friends in the neighbourhoodand at school check.

Obtain an Ontariodriver licence check.

Find a job check.

But despite their many achievements, the coupleacknowledges one big disappointment: after a full year of ESLclasses, threehours a day, fivedays a week, coupled with countless hours practisingat home, both Alsebaeeand Alsebai's English skills remain rudimentaryat best.

Come in Canada, no English. Now, little English.- Jehad Alsebaee

"Come in Canada,noEnglish. Now, littleEnglish" Jehad, 43,managedslowly, with prompting from his wife.

Alsebai, 28,has progressedfurther, but not nearly as far as she'd expected.

"It's very hard because Ilike quickly, Iwant toquicklylearningEnglish," she said.

Family of 6 fled violence in Homs

The family of six fled their home city of Homsamid constant bombingmore than threeyears ago, escaping first to Cairo, Egypt, then to Beirut, Lebanon.

When they arrived in Ottawa as privately sponsored refugees on Dec. 22, 2015, they knew no one.

They were met at the airport by members of the Ottawa South Committee forRefugee Sponsorship, one of several hundred groups in the city that formedlast year to sponsor Syrian refugees.

The group, based out of Trinity Anglican Church in Old Ottawa South, had more than 30 members andhad been preparing to welcomethe family for months. The grouphad already found and rentedanapartment in a safe, family-oriented apartment complex in Vanier.

Members of the group donatedclothing,furniture, kitchen supplies and appliances so the family wouldn't lack for anything.

Sponsors helped family over hurdles

Since Alsebai and Alsebaee spoke only Arabic when they arrived, and had no friends or family here, the group arranged for translators to help them over the many bureaucratic hurdles newcomers encounter, including registering their children for elementary school and themselves for ESL classes, setting up bank accounts, getting their OHIPand library cards, andapplying for federal assistance (the family arrived on a blended visa, and so initially received funding from both their sponsors and the government).

There werebus routes to explain, medical and dental appointments to arrange, and potential employers to contact.

The family's sponsorsalso took them sight-seeing, showing them the city's museums, shopping malls and importantlandmarks. They also introduced the familyto what must have seemed strange cultural practices such as Halloween.

"We, in a sense ... provided a community so that they were never alone," said the sponsorship group's chair, Robert Taylor.

In halting English, thecouple acknowledgedit all would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible, without the army of volunteers there to help.

Sponsorship money running out

For the first six months after the family's arrivalthey received $1,500 permonth from their sponsors and another $1,500 from the federal government under the refugee resettlement program. When the federal money ran out in Julythe sponsorship group picked up the government's portion, providingthe family with a monthly allowance of $3,000.

But thatmoneyends this month, the family's first anniversary in Canada. The group is now arranging for the parents to receive social assistance, supplemented by the Canada child benefit and income from Alsebaee'spart-time job at a car wash.

After much debate, the group madethe the difficult decision to use what's leftin their coffers to sponsor other refugees who want to come to Ottawa. They estimate they have enough to support at least nine more newcomers over the coming year.

"We are in a position to help these other people who are in the position JehadandNirmeenwere in a year-and-a-half ago, some of them in a fairly perilous situation inLebanon, and if we can help them achieve the same lifethat we've been able to helpNermeenand Jehad get this year, that seems to be a valid way for the committee to go," Taylor said.

Sponsors confident family will succeed

The sponsors will continue to support the familyin other ways, helping the couple find full-time employmentand overcome other issues as they arise.

I'vealways been really impressed with the bravery that they've shown in getting their family out of that mess and comingto a place they knew nothing about.- Michael Casey, sponsor

SponsorMichael Casey said the groupdecided to let the family go it alone because they're confident Alsebaee and Alsebaihave the resourcefulness to fend for themselves.

"I'vealways been really impressed with the bravery that they've shown in getting their family out of that mess and comingto a place they knew nothing about, and so they've been able to carry thatmoxyall the way through. I think they both have a bit of anentrepreneurialspirit in them, and I think in the long term they're going to do really well,"Casey said.

But the sponsorship group also knows the couplewon't be able to truly succeed in Canada until their English improves.

"Talking to other people who are in the immigrant community, the sort of feeling is that it takes two years to get on your feet," said Tom Lawson, who handles finances for the sponsorship group. "It would have been wonderful if they had been employed after 12 months, but we don't view it as a failurebut as a stepping stone to the next 12 months."

Alsebai said her goal is to make clothes for Muslim women. Alsebaee, whoworked as a carpenter and chauffeur in Syria, wants to go to school tolearn how to cut hair.The couple also talks of one day opening a Syrian restaurant.

For now, both are focusing on ticking just one more item off their Canadianto-do list: speaking fluent English.