Meet Rawan

Meet Rawan, a Syrian student who sought and found refuge in Canada along with her five siblings and mother. Rawan and her family were forced to journey across seven nations, riding a bus, three boats, two airplanes, and more than five trucks before they finally arrived to the promised land of Canada.

Describing their anticipation for the start of their new life, Rawan reminisced on how she, “expected Canada to be the long-awaited dream of [her] family.” Then, clearly trying to mask her anguish and disappointment, she delivered a piercing truth, saying, “We were shocked to see that our struggle might persist here in Canada. For some reason, people like to assume that those in our position are financially irresponsible, or that we make no effort to find employment. They don’t know what it means to give us the benefit of the doubt.”

Along with helping her mom tend to the children and take care of their home, Rawan currently juggles two part-time jobs and attends ESL courses. Yet, despite her intense work ethic in the face of adversity and her obvious attempts to forge a better life for herself and her family, the monthly household income comes out to a meager $2000. It should also be noted that the lion’s share of what they earn – more than $1300 – must be allocated for monthly rent payments. This family’s monthly expenses total to $3200, and this is excluding “luxury” items, such as their broken down, barely-functional, outdated car.

Rawan’s only dream now is to live a comfortable life, one where she can take solace in knowing that the horrors of yesterday are long gone, the security of today is guaranteed, and the prospects of tomorrow are plentiful. Her story has been stuck in my head ever since she thanked the team at National Zakat Foundation for assisting her with food vouchers for groceries.

We Canadians have earned a reputation for being indiscriminately accepting. But if we, of all people, point our fingers at refugees instead of lending a helping hand to them, where else can they possibly turn?

To read more success stories of Muslims we assisted at NZF, please click here.