Current Events
Surrey’s Sikhs Bring Cheer to Iraqi Christian Refugees
LARISSA CAHUTE
Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
For the past few Christmases, Surrey’s Iraqi Christian community -- made up of more than 1,000 refugee families who’ve escaped persecution in Iraq and Syria -- have celebrated by exchanging Dollar Store gifts and sharing a McDonald’s meal.
It’s all the strapped community has been able to afford -- until this year.
“We don’t have a lot of resources here,” said Samira Astifo, member of the Iraqi Christian -- also known as Chaldean -- community.
Astifo immigrated to Vancouver before the Gulf War took place some 24 years ago. Shortly after her arrival and the outbreak of war, she sponsored the rest of her family to come as refugees, and the community has been growing ever since.
In the midst of the ongoing war, conditions in Iraq and Syria, and threats from ISIS, the community has sponsored about 1,000 families in the past three years and expects that number to double in the New Year as they wait for more families -- who are currently living in tents at refugee camps in Northern Iraq -- to arrive.
“With ISIS, they took their religion, took their cities, took their belongings, so basically they have nothing,” said Astifo.
While the community has found some funding, it still struggles to make ends meet as members “work around the clock” to offer settlement and English language programs, help newcomers find jobs, and organize events, such as the annual low-budget Christmas dinner.
But this year’s Chaldean Christmas will be much brighter thanks to Surrey community activists Mani Kaur Fallon, Indy Singh Panchi and the Guru Nanak Free Kitchen.
Mani, Indy and the Kitchen have offered to step in to serve 600 meals and provide more than 300 donated toys for this year’s dinner, being held Saturday (December 27, 2014) at St. Matthew’s R C Parish on 88 Avenue.
“It just seemed wrong to have McDonald’s on Christmas,” Mani said, adding she was unaware the large Chaldean community even existed “right here in Surrey.”
So in an effort to bring them a little more Christmas cheer, she reached out to her social network and quickly saw hundreds of toy gifts donated. Indy Singh with the Guru Nanak Free Kitchen also offered the kitchen’s services.
“We Sikhs know what persecution is all about -- our community in India has suffered as well,” Indy said. “We fully understand they’re traumatized, they’ve come from a very, very difficult and hostile environment and we’ll be honoured to serve them.”
“What a great way to bridge communities and bring people together all in the spirit of Christmas in the most multicultural city in Canada,” added Mani.
And Astifo couldn’t be more grateful for the Christmas miracle.
“My house is full of 300 gifts now -- basically my living room is full of boxes,” she said. “And those toys are worth a lot of money.
“It’s amazing … you know, there’s hope. The kids are going to go crazy this year.”
[Courtesy: Vancouver Desi. Edited for sikhchic.com]
December 26, 2014
Conversation about this article
1: Sunny Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), December 26, 2014, 3:44 PM.
I would like to start off by saying that the Sikhs in Surrey should be commended for what they are doing. I would also however like to bring up a separate issue that relates to this article. The United States is pulling out of Afghanistan and the situation for Sikhs is getting worse by the day. The problem is not from the Taliban, it is from their own neighbors who are forcing them to convert to Islam, abducting their daughters and not even allowing them to cremate their dead. If we can help these Christian Iraqi refugees who definitely deserve our help, we should be able to extend a bigger hand to our own community. I would like to call upon the Sikh community in Canada, particularly British Columbia, to start sponsoring Sikhs from Afghanistan for refugee status. The horrible current event of Sikh-Afghans being smuggled into the UK at the risk of life and limb shows that the Sikhs are no longer a tolerated minority in Afghanistan and they should be evacuated ASAP. If the Iraqi Christian community can sponsor their own in the thousands, we can do the same for our own. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/refugees/sponsor/index.asp .