Syrian refugees find new home in St. Stephen

A Syrian refugee family of nine woke up Tuesday to their first day full day as New Brunswickers.

The Maatouks are trading a refugee camp in Lebanon for a five-bedroom Victorian-era home in St. Stephen.

"We had to look for a slightly bigger house," said John Allen, who serves on a committee helping to settle the family, which includes seven children aged four to 22.

Allen says the committee had been expecting a much smaller group.

The past several days have been a scramble, he admits. The committee learned last Wednesday the family would be on an airplane to Canada on Friday.

The little children were overjoyed.- John Allen

The refugee initiative was spearheaded by several area United Churches and Allen says other community groups jumped in to assist.

A bus belonging to the Boys and Girls Club of Charlotte County was used to pick the family up at the Saint John Airport.

"They were very tired," says Allen. "But you could see they were glad to be there ... the little children were overjoyed."

Language help

The Maatouks will be taken on another bus trip Wednesday, this time for a tour of the St. Stephen area. English as a second language classes will begin the same day.

In the meantime, they will have some help with the new language, from Fuat Gumashel, one of the few Arabic speakers in Charlotte County. 

"I speak about the same Arabic that they do and hopefully I'll make them more comfortable as I know them," said Gumashel.  

"We haven't talked about anything personal yet, but I explained to them the house and the people who are working for them, how hard they worked and they were very thankful and very happy," he added.

Committee members are exploring work opportunities and making preparations to assist the family with grocery shopping and getting set up in the community.

Volunteer Ann McIntosh is helping the family open a bank account.

"I'm sure it will be a little bit confusing for the family to start up with people putting paper in front of them that they won't be able to understand, saying 'here, sign here,'" said Ann McIntosh, one of the committee volunteers. "Bit daunting, I'm sure."

Because of the larger size of the family Allen says the community will likely need to raise a bit more than the $30,000 originally generated to assist them through their first year in Canada.