From Al-Qusayr to Canada’s Antigonish

From Al-Qusayr to Canada’s Antigonish
The five members of the al-Zhouri family were relocated to the town of Antigonish, on Canada’s eastern shores, in January 2016. The family had fled conflict back home in Al-Qusayr, Syria, for Lebanon and, for five years, had been unable to work or attend school.

Soon after arriving, the quiet emptiness of the winter surprised the family. The days of social gatherings at their house in Syria – the laughter and chatter of neighbors passing by— were over.

For the first five months, Rabiaa al-Soufi, the 42-year-old mother, felt alone and depressed, “The world started closing up on me,” she says. “I only had my kids here and no one else.”

Rabiaa’s mind often drifted back to her home in Syria and the war. She and other families would huddle in a cramped bathroom, the safest location, as the regime’s bombs and airstrikes destroyed their city.

Their home became increasingly dangerous for her eldest son, Majd, and husband Toufic, both targets for recruitment and detention. Fleeing to a nearby village, they spent weeks hidden in an orchard. 

After arriving in Canada, the family’s sponsors often spent hours at Rabiaa’s house, drinking tea and conversing. As her mood brightened, Rabiaa started baking and sewing again – jobs she’d once thrown herself into in Syria.

What began as a way to fill her days soon turned into a small business. Her sponsors arranged for a table at the weekly farmer’s market – a place to sell Syrian pastries.

“With the farmer’s market, even though it’s once a week, it helped me a lot with my social life. I found so many friends,” says Rabiaa.

Then, after staring at a worn couch in their new home, she crafted a cover, selecting fabrics and poring over measurements. When her sponsors visited, they marveled at the stitching and design.

Soon, word got out in the small town that Rabiaa’s talents extended further than baking. Customers would leave her table at the market with a small package of cookies and appointments for tailoring or upholstering. Working alongside Toufic, a skilled carpenter, the couple created a niche service in the area. Sponsors helped Rabiaa design and print business cards, and created a Facebook page to attract customers.

Soon, the al-Zhouri’s living room was a collection of chairs and fabric. Knocks on the door soon became familiar; residents streamed into the house with new jobs for the family.

And as Rabiaa’s presence in the community grew, her family’s did too. Her eldest son, Majd, between a job and school, took the lead in a community theatre play to improve his English and confidence. Her younger children, Ranim and Aghyad, volunteered in the community and devoured textbooks, quickly becoming fluent in English. Her husband built a reputation as a precise carpenter, able to fuse Middle Eastern design with Canadian style. 

When a local hockey coach phoned Rabiaa recently, she didn’t hesitate before agreeing to help. Fifty hockey jerseys were dropped off at her house, all needing name plates sewed on as soon as possible.

Rabiaa quickly got to work, spending the next few nights hunched over a whirring sewing machine, the yellow bulb casting shadows across the living room-turned-workshop. 

With skills honed from years of teaching sewing and tailoring in Syria, a heap of finished jerseys piled up quickly. “Even though this is a very simple thing, I am grateful that, of all people, I was able to provide this to them,” says Rabiaa.

Edited from Far and Wide 

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