Close your eyes. Think of the Mediterranean. Did you imagine the golden sunset reflecting off the deep blue sea, as you peered past the vibrantly coloured kaikis moored in the harbor alongside the café you chose to dine at? Perhaps not, but this idyllic setting steeped in history and culture, is home to Syrians. Few people would conjure up images of a civil war so horrific the world has taken notice and caused Canadians to mobilize to bring Syrians to Canada. A Canadian choice, that some would argue, should not have been made due to a multitude of Canadian issues needing prioritization. While it is true that Canada has pressing problems, this either or dichotomy is not obvious. What is clear is that there are Syrian refugees who have …show more content…
Simple things to North Americans, like using public transport, getting a phone, or enrolling in school, represent puzzles that must be solved. There is much that needs to be done to allow the new Canadians to intuitively perform mundane activities necessary in Canadian life. How are they to learn these things? The need is great and the largely untapped pool of Mount Royal University (MRU) students should choose to help Syrian refugees transition into the Calgary community.
1. Background
A brief recap of the factors that have led to four thousand Syrians refugees being helped by countless Calgarians is in order (Government of Canada, “Map”). It starts with climate change causing the poorer and less educated Syrian agriculturalists to migrate to the cities and living close to wealthy, well-educated and of different faith groups (Baltes 11-12). A group of school children putting graffiti on a wall, at a time when some Muslim countries were experiencing political rebirth, was the spark that started the civil war in Syria (Baltes 48). Six years later, over half a million dead, and the Bashar al-Assad government reputedly using chemical weapons, the war rages on