A Syrian refugee family was reunited in Nanaimo after being separated for nearly two years.
Roughly 50 people cheered as Syrian refugees Farouk and Lama Al Mansour greeted their parents, Mohammad Al Mansour and Wedad Idris, and their siblings, Ahmad and Chiraz Al Mansour, for the first time in more than year at the Nanaimo Airport on Tuesday night.
Farouk arrived with his wife and two children, while Lama arrived with her husband and young son. After an exhaustive series of flights from Lebanon, totalling more than 37 hours of travel, the two refugee families will now call Nanaimo home.
Chiraz told the News Bulletin she was speechless when she saw her brother and sister for the first time since leaving the Middle East. She said she became very emotional when she saw the joy on her mother’s face.
“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “When I saw that my mom was very happy, I forgot everything that was sad that happened in my life.”
The Al Mansours have united! Here’s the reunion at #Nanaimo YCD airport. pic.twitter.com/4gcKy1nLXd
— Nicholas M Pescod (@npescod) September 27, 2017
Originally from Syria, Mohammad, Wedad, Ahmad and Chiraz came to Nanaimo in March of 2016 as privately sponsored refugees after spending years in a Lebanese refugee camp.
Shortly after their arrival, it was discovered that the Al Mansour’s two adult children, Farouk and Lama, were still in Lebanon, as both were married with children of their own, which meant that as refugees they were classified as two separate families and had to each be sponsored individually.
As a result, two private sponsorship groups, Cedar Refugee Area Effort and a group called VIVRS, stepped up and sponsored Farouk and Lama in an effort to bring them, their spouses and children to Nanaimo.
Deborah van der Goes, co-chair for the Cedar Area Refugee Effort which sponsored Farouk, his wife and their two children, described the moment she saw the Al Mansours reunited as incredibly touching.
“It was deeply, deeply amazing,” she said.
Michael Mann, who was part of the private sponsorship group that brought Mohammad, Wedad, Ahmad and Chiraz to Canada, said he’s so pleased to see the community come together to reunite the Al Masour family.
“It’s gratifying,” he said.
Chiraz said she is grateful that Farouk and Lama will have access to good doctors and all the services that she has had access to in Nanaimo. She said she hopes they enjoy Canada as much as she has.
“I hope they feel the same way as I feel here,” she said.