Vancouver resident searching for stranger who helped her refugee family

A former Bosnian refugee who came to Vancouver with her family in 1995 is on a mission to find a stranger who invited them to dinner 21 years ago.

Ramusovic was 9-years-old when she and her family fled the conflict in Bosnia.

"During our first month in Vancouver, my family stayed at the old Welcome House on Drake Street. In those early days, while we adjusted to our new surroundings, my dad and mom would frequently take my brother and I to play at David Lam Park, just down the street from Welcome House," said Ramusovic.

"One afternoon, my dad, brother and I were playing in the park. Nearby, a Canadian man and his son were kicking a soccer ball around.  When the ball rolled towards us at some point, the father invited the three of us to join him and his son in the game."

To her surprise, the man then invited the Ramusovic family over for dinner.

"I should say at this point that, between my Dad, my brother and I, we knew a total of 10 words/phrases in English [but] that barrier did not prevent the father and son from engaging with us," she said.

Ramusovic said her family fondly remembers that dinner 21 years ago.

"I remember that my dad was glowing and I felt like a human being again. I say that because our first few weeks in Canada, as my family wandered the streets of Downtown Vancouver from task to task, trying to understand our surroundings, I felt like a ghost or alien — out of place and invisible."

"This Canadian man, by inviting us to play soccer with him and his son, by inviting us to dinner, made us feel like human beings again. We were worthy of engaging with, of sharing a meal with, despite the language barrier and the other obvious differences and disparities."

Ramusovic is now a labour and human rights lawyer in Vancouver and her brother is completing his master's degree in Montreal. 

Last year, the family celebrated 20 years in Canada.

"For over a year now I've been thinking about how much I want to thank that father and son. I've been thinking about how great it would be to take them out to dinner, learn more about them and tell them what we've been up to, communicate many of the things that we did not know how to communicate back then. I would also want to encourage every Canadian to show openness and kindness towards newcomers in these simple ways, in everyday life."

Ramusovic said the man had a young son who would have been under the age of ten in September 1995. He lived in a penthouse near David Lam Park.