On June 25, Gaby Dayekh and his family will have lived in Powell River for one year. By that point, under the Government of Canada’s temporary public policy for community sponsors of Syrian refugees, the Dayekh’s will have to be self-sufficient.
The same policy applies to the Azrak family: Sharbel, his wife Kinda, and two boys, Sharbel, eight, and Aboud, five, and their grandparents Aboud and Mouna Azrak and Sonia Krikorian. That means finding jobs to pay for the essentials, including accommodation, food, health and education.
Assumption Catholic Church sponsored Dayekh, his wife and their children. The Azraks were sponsored by Westview Baptist Church and Evangel Pentecostal Church. According to Wendy Perkonig, chair of the Evangel/Westview Baptist Churches Refugee Sponsorship Committee, the Azarak family is doing very well, especially the boys.
“The boys have had school now for just about the year and their English has improved like crazy,” said Perkonig. “They’re doing really well at school. That’s always a positive for a family when the kids are happy and settled in school.”
Perkonig said the families are coming to the end of the one-year sponsorship period, which will include a cutback on the living allowance that was provided to them by the sponsors.
In the year since the Dayekhs and Azraks have lived here, their sponsors were responsible for financial support, opening bank accounts, social insurance numbers, driver’s licences, ESL and helping them to feel part of the community.
“Two more months and the sponsor financial support stops,” said Dayekh. “I have a little problem with the money; I hope to get a second job to pay for everything.”
Dayekh began searching for a job two and a half months ago, but it did not take him long to find employment. He now works in the factory at Modern Windows.
The opportunity began, as these things often do, through a family connection. Dayekh said his wife, Rania Shakkal, was volunteering at Assumption’s weekly soup kitchen when she met the mother of Modern’s owner, Dan Agius.
“It was sudden; his mother told my wife I should speak with them about a job,” said Dayekh. “It was easy, I just talked with Dan and he said, ‘Okay.’”
According to Agius, Dayekh arrived at Modern with his son, Rezq, who introduced his father and himself and translated the story of who they were, that they were from Aleppo, Syria, and that his father was looking for work.
“I basically said, ‘Give me some time and we’ll make it happen,’” said Agius.
For Agius, Dayekh’s story gave him pause to think about his own family, who came to Powell River in the late 1950s as immigrants from Malta. He said he remembered the stories they told about coming here and looking for work at the mill, where everyone looked for employment in those days.
“At the time they came, the mill was on strike,” said Agius. “But they made do.”
When Dayekh came looking for work, Agius said he was compelled by his story.
“I took an instant liking to Gaby and his son,” he said. “I just talked to factory manager Rob Penson and said, ‘You have to just make this happen.’”
In Aleppo, Dayekh said he worked as a machinist.
“I’m very comfortable working here and welcomed by my coworkers,” said Dayekh. “I am not treated any different than any other worker on the floor.”
As battles continue to rage in Aleppo, Dayekh said he is sad for what has happened to his hometown and that it is being reduced to rubble by all of the bombings.
“It’s nice to be here because of that war,” he said. “This is my home now, my new home. In a small town, you know everybody and they are lovely people.”
