We first met the Al Taha family in our April Break 2021 Camp where we learned more about refugees. This beautiful family, originally from Syria, has been living in Lebanon since 2012. The two youngest children in the family are 10 and 12 years old – around the same age as the kids in my April Break Camp! So making this connection was super meaningful and impactful for all the kids involved. We sent messages back and forth with the two boys over the week, and then again in another online camp in July 2021. We have been eagerly awaiting their arrival here in the Ottawa/Gatineau area and are so excited to tell you that they are officially arriving on May 24th!
There are two things you can get involved in if you feel inspired to help this family:
1. Go Fund Me Campaign
You can make a donation to our Go Fund Me Campaign to make sure that we can fully support the family for their first year here. A lot of money has been raised already, and we are only looking for $10,000 more at this point. Here is the link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/aqrcj-help-the-al-fares-tara-family-thrive-in-canada
2. AMA Family Edition: Supporting Refugees in our Communities
We are holding a virtual fundraising event on Monday, May 30 at 7:00 pm – an Ask Me Anything event where the kids can chat with, learn from and ask questions to people who have lived experience with arriving in Ottawa as a refugee. The goal is to find out from these guests what we can do to help new refugees who are just arriving – what actions we can take to help them feel supported and loved. The power in this event is that we will be hearing from people who have actually gone through this exact experience – arriving in a new country, after having fled a war, and having to figure out this new life. We are going to hear some excellent ideas for how we can help make this journey easier for other refugee families.
Here is the Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1113040875929583
Here is the Eventbrite link for registering: https://www.eventbrite.ca/o/world-changing-kids-17548400912
We would love to see you there.
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