Yellowknife teen aims to raise $5K to help Syrian refugees 'just be kids'

A Yellowknife Grade 10 student is taking a citizenship project to a new level, by making a difference in the lives of four children she's never met.

For her citizenship project for Social Studies class, Hunaifa Malik set a goal of raising $5,000 for the children of a Syrian refugee family who are relocating to Yellowknife.

The 16-year-old was already raising money for the refugee family with the city-wide group, but "We weren't raising for the kids so I thought I'd do it for my project for school."

She says most local fundraising is going toward the essentials such as food, clothing and shelter.

"I want them to have the chance to just be kids like we all did. I think if they had a hobby to focus on it kind of would help," Malik said.

"I know we can't fix what happened to them but I think it would help children to take their mind off it. Just be kids and carefree like we all were."

All the proceeds from her fundraising will go to the children, to cover activities such as sports lessons and tournaments, school trips, books, or wherever their personal interests lie.

Over the last two months she's held a garage sale and a garbage pick-up, recruiting many volunteers. As of Thursday she had raised $3,643.60, with the latest donation being $500 from the local Islamic centre.

"It's still as exciting as the first dollar," she said.

'Above and beyond'

Melanie Durepos, Malik's Social Studies teacher at Sir John Franklin High School, says she receives all sorts of citizenship projects, from cleaning up a park to saving water at home.

"With the citizenship project, it's very personalized," she said.

"They do an assignment they care about, that relates to their personal experiences."

Students are graded on the depth of their research, problem solving, being open-minded and their generosity of spirit. But Durepos says Malik's efforts are definitely special.

"I see Hunaifa going above and beyond," she said.

"She seems to be working on this every day, every weekend, and that's certainly something I don't see very often."

Malik says she's determined to reach her $5,000 goal. She recently got a part-time job at Javaroma coffee shop to help in case she's short. She's also planning on holding a car wash and bagging groceries for donations. She might even dip into her personal savings — money she was going to spend on a new phone.