Settlement

In 2013, my husband, my children and I left Syria because it was not safe to live there anymore. We traveled to Jordan without documentation. It was very hard for us to leave our parents, our other family members, our friends our house and the community we grew up in.

Life in Jordan was difficult for us. When we lived there, we were not allowed to work, so we had very little money. Fortunately, we made some friends who were kind. One woman from Jordon gave us a place to live for a small amount of money. When we first arrived in Jordon, we applied for refugee status in Canada. After three and a half years of living in Jordon, we were informed by the Canadian government that we could move to Canada.

Although, we were extremely happy that we could move to Canada and start a new life, we felt a little scared because we didn’t know how to speak English, we didn’t know anyone living in Canada, and we didn’t know much about Canada.

We arrived at the Vancouver airport on December 22, 2016. We were put up in a hotel for one night and then put on another plane and flown to Kelowna where we met our sponsors. They drove us to our new home in Salmon Arm. It was a 2-hour drive. We were very tired, but still excited to start our new lives in Canada.

We lived in Salmon Arm for 13 months. It is a beautiful city surrounded by mountains, forests and many lakes. However, there are not many Arabic people living there. Also, it doesn’t have a mosque, so we decided to move to Victoria, BC. It is a much larger city than Salmon Arm, and there is a large Arabic community. The people are extremely nice, the weather is warm, the schools are great, and there are good job opportunities. The only thing we don’t like about Victoria is the high cost of living. Rent and food are very expensive. Despite this, we are very glad to that we are living in Canada. One day, we hope to become citizens.