Last Thursday Layla Rahmeh gave a lecture updating the Syrian refugee crisis, the events that led us to where we are today, and the changes the Syrian culture has undergone through its mass exodus.
Rahmeh’s pride of her heritage and culture shone through her lecture. Her story also allowed the audience to hear a personal account about the challenges that face so many people in today’s refugee crisis. A focus throughout her lecture was to show her audience what it was like to be Syrian and the beauty of her country before the war.
“I want you to know that it’s a beautiful place. It used to be,” said Rahmeh.
Rahmeh spoke about how the majority of the people in Syria, including herself, were educated and had a good life before the war began. She also mentioned how people of varying religions used to live in harmony.
“We used to go to pray together, Muslims and Christians, in the chapels.”
Rahmeh said that one day, Syrians began to hear about uprisings in other Middle Eastern countries. Many Syrians were enchanted by these uprisings and they too, wanted to stand up for change in their country.
Syrians began peaceful anti-regime demonstrations and thought that this would create change. However, the government’s reaction to these demonstrations was unexpectedly violent. The government began arresting people, even children, for making public anti-regime statements.
Rahmeh did not agree with what the government was doing and she made no secret of being anti-regime. Since she worked for a company that was half owned by the government and half pro-regime, she was asked to leave her job. After this, Rahmeh and her daughter came to Canada.
“I have two brothers. One lives in Saint John and is a doctor and the other is in Toronto and is an architect. They have been in Canada for nine to ten years.”
With the visa that she already had from going to visit her brother, Rahmeh and her daughter fled Syria through Lebanon and came to Canada.
However, both Rahmeh and her daughter did not think they would stay in Canada long. They assumed the conflict in their homeland would be resolved soon and they would be able to return home. After six months in Canada, Rahmeh had to apply for asylum in order to put her daughter in school.
Rahmeh had a lot of difficulty finding a job because she had no work experience in Canada. After a while, Rahmeh found herself in an entry level job in Saint John, living in a bachelor apartment, and with one pan to cook all their meals.
Throughout all this, Rahmeh still remained hope that she could soon return to Syria. This hope stopped her from creating permanent ties to Canada.
“I want to have friends but I don’t want to have friends because I don’t want to lose them again. I don’t want to leave them again. I left everything behind, I left my whole family, my friends, my whole life behind. I didn’t want to start a life that I would lose again.”
As the conflict progressed, Rahmeh realized that she had to cut ties with her beloved homeland in order to truly start over in Canada. Rahmeh and her daughter both worked and Rahmeh’s daughter earned a partial scholarship to St. Mary’s University in Halifax.
Rahmeh and her daughter are still waiting for their permanent residency but Rahmeh said that she feels as though she will one day be able to call Canada her second home. She concluded her lecture with a beautifully positive thought about today’s refugee crisis.
“I want to feel like now that Syria is actually now, all over the world. Syria can now go all over the world. Syrian culture can now mingle with all the other cultures. And I like to think, since I’m so proud to be Syrian and I’m so proud of my heritage and my culture, that it was meant to be that we would have to go and spread our culture everywhere.”
