World Refugee Day (June 20) takes on special significance in Nanaimo this year as the community prepares to welcome a Palestinian refugee family of three.
The Nanaimo Refugee Sponsorship Group, St. Andrew’s United Church, the Islamic Centre of Nanaimo and the community have sponsored Ashraf, Hala and their eight-year-old son, Abdullah, who have been living in the El Hol Refugee Camp in the Syrian desert for five years, to come to Nanaimo.
Refugees from this camp are “stateless” people – the children of those displaced from Palestine in 1947. In 2002, they were again displaced – this time from the asylum they had in Iraq.
There is still need for more financial donations and some household items for the family’s apartment.
Another family is also being conisdered for refuge in Nanaimo. For more information or a list of household items to donate, please call Valerie Smith at 250-753-6543.