Hiba had called me during the week and reminded me that Ayham’s birthday is Feb 10. He is turning 3 years old! This will be his first birthday in Canada. We agreed that she would bake a cake and bring it over to our house on Saturday Feb 11. Jamal had chicken marinating and he …
The pop up restaurant in December was a real success. Two of our staff who attended asked if they could setup a date to have private cooking lessons with Hiba. This was arranged for Feb 4. Hiba came early in the afternoon and she and Karl did all the shopping. Then Bre and Morgan arrived …
Since we have met Jamal and Hiba this is definitely the longest we have gone without seeing each other. We were away for 20 days from mid December. Most days Hiba and I would text through WhatsApp – at least whenever I could find wifi we did. We were due to arrive back to Montreal …
I was due to see Hiba at 3:30 on Friday Dec 2. I met her, Jamal at the social workers for an update meeting. Then we picked up the kids, then went shopping for all the food necessary for the pop up restaurant. We stopped at a shop for vegetables, fruits, herbs, then to a …
Our next-door neighbours (Sylvie & Tim) came to eat with us one day. Jamal and Hiba were also over visiting. A few days later Sylvie brought a magazine article talking about restaurants for a day, a movement that is big in Europe. Anyone can cook a meal, invite people in to eat your food and …
Due to a misunderstanding, Hiba and Jamal did not receive the invitation to the French courses. It was sent to the wrong address. The social worker happened to know the course was starting the next day and she called me for the background story, I gave her the Ministry of Immigration number and the ID …
I was contacted by Gloria of Global News who had done the original story of them when they first arrived, asking if we could do an update on them. It was set up for Friday Nov 9. I arranged a translator (one of our fundraisers who speaks Arabic), and went to meet Jamal and Hiba …
Halloween in 2016 falls on a Monday night. Not ideal since it’s a school night, but we figured we had to get Jamal, Hiba, Ahmed, and Ayham over to experience Halloween on our street that is famous for lots of kids and lots of houses handing out candy. They arrived about 5 pm, I had …
Jamal met another Syrian refugee who arrived after Jamal himself, and already has his Permanent Resident Card. Jamal and Hiba then asked me where is their card? I remember being told by a social worker early in the process that they normally arrive within 12 months so this is not something I had been thinking …
Jamal has taken the theory driving test 3x. He failed all 3 modules twice, but on his last trip passed 2 modules. So he will take just the final module next. They offer the test in Arabic which I didn’t know! His friend who failed 6x has given him a book to study to help …