A Syrian man who is a member of the first government-sponsored refugee family to arrive in Saint John says while it was difficult at first things are getting easier every day.
31-year-old Mohamad Mousa along with his 24-year-old wife Arij Dalein and two young children came to the city in December of last year. He has been working at the uptown Mediterranean restaurant Taste of Egypt for the past three months and his kids are in French school. Mousa spoke with us through a translator at the restaurant about the YMCA welcome teams, which is a team that helps the refugees during the start of their settlement process.
“They take us to the hotel and then they help us with their furniture and to find our apartment to be settled and they show us the city and they help us a lot to start a new life in Saint John,” says Mousa via the translator.
With above five months in the city now under their belts, Mousa says his children are excited though they do have some challenges with the language. He says they now know where to go in Saint John and they’re familiar with the streets.
“We like it so far,” says Mousa.
Premier Brian Gallant came to the restaurant on Tuesday afternoon to cook a meal with Mousa and sat down to a meal.
Premier cooks with chef Mousa, member of first gov’t assisted Syrian refugee family to SJ, at Taste of Egypt. pic.twitter.com/jThQY5IakN
— CHSJ News (@chsjnews) May 24, 2016
Mohamad Mousa came to Saint John with his family in December. He was hired by TOE within a few months of his arrival pic.twitter.com/eAhhDCIZJt
— CHSJ News (@chsjnews) May 24, 2016
It’s expected we will receive a total of at least 500 Syrian newcomers by the end of the year. As of mid-April we were at nearly 430.
