Essex woman uses Google Translate to deliver goods to refugees

Laura Soutar-Hasulo is using Google Translate to break down language barriers between her and Syrian refugees new to southwestern Ontario.

The Syrian Canadian Council in Windsor, Ont., gives her an address of a family in need and she hops in her car to personally deliver the goods. She brings her smartphone to help translate during the conversations.

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"I don't really have a shy bone in my body so I would just go in with my iPhone and start trying to translate. Every family has been so gracious, so welcoming. They've given me jewelry. I'm wearing jewelry given to me by people who have nothing. They are just so happy to be in Canada. One mother said to me, 'Now, my children can breathe.' I just can't fathom it."

After a stroller delivery to one refugee family, Soutar-Hasulo discovered another family in need of clothing and took them to the Rose City Islamic Centre, where the donations had been dropped off.

"They had no shoes for the young girl. So I said to her, as a gift, welcoming her to Canada, I would take her and buy her shoes. When I picked them up from their apartment. I realized they only had one towel for the entire family. And then I started asking them on Google Translate, 'What else do you have? Do you have socks? Do you have underwear?'

"They had one pair of socks, they had very little. Nothing. They had no plates. They had absolutely nothing. So the need is now. So many people say, 'Canada should be doing this, Canada should be doing that.' We're all Canada. I'm Canadian. These are new Canadians. The need is now and it needs to be done."

Soutar-Hasulo said Google Translate usually works well but said the service auto corrected one word to "reindeer" three times. Needless to say, the Syrian family looked confused, she said.

Frequent stops nothing new

Soutar-Hasulo is used to making frequent stops. She's been a conductor with CN for 30 years. But even on her days off, she makes frequent pickups and deliveries.

Soutar-Hasulo figures she's filled up her black Ford Focus about 40 times since January. Tuesday, she was transporting a bike, toys, bedding, diaper bags and baby supplies. There's just enough room in her cramped car to see through the rear-view mirror. It's not the fullest the car has ever been.

"I've had it floor to ceiling, every inch of space in this car has been taken up. It's been an adventure and it's been a lot of laughs, oh my gosh. Because I don't speak Arabic. The children are determined that I'll learn Arabic as much as I'm trying to help them learn English. I've made some really, really good friends. And they're going to be friends for the rest of my life," she said.

Her and her husband live just outside Colchester, and her travels take her all over Windsor-Essex, to towns like Leamington, Kingsville and Belle River.

"I've been to I've been all over Essex County. I've been all over Lasalle, Windsor, Tecumseh. I'm going to Ottawa to visit my niece, but she has a bunch of stuff for me to bring back," she said.

Soutar-Hasulo started her work when she learned about a donation drive through Facebook and posted that she had a car and would be willing to pick up donations. Soon after sharing the information on social media, she started receiving donations to her house.

"I started having things dropped off on my porch. I started receiving Purolator and FedEx and regular mail; towels and all kinds of household goods," she said.

The father of one family Soutar-Hasulo met was a tailor in Syria.

"So, I'm picking up a sewing machine for him in Sunderland from a friend of mine. I can't even begin to count how many kilometres I've put on my car," she said.

"I think it's great. More people should be doing that," says Diane Masters, who's filled up Soutar-Hasulo's car twice. "I filled up her car a couple of weeks ago [with] a couple of cribs, a high chair, a few toys."

From Lasalle, Soutar-Hasulo drove the toys to the Khalaaji family in downtown Windsor.

"I am thank you, Laura. Thank you, Canada to welcome [us]," said Nazer Khalaaji, who arrived in Windsor in January.

Soutar-Hasulo says it was the tone of the federal election campaign last fall that upset her, and was her initial call to action.

"It seemed to be a campaign of division and fear and people fear what they don't know and I'd been watching events in Syria and these are just innocent families; families that are in horrific situations, situations that we can't even imagine in our comfortable lives in Canada. We just can't," she said.