Fourth refugee family slated to arrive on Manitoulin March 15
MANITOULIN—Three refugee families have begun settling into their new homes on Manitoulin Island, two in Little Current and one in Gore Bay, with word arriving Monday that the Mindemoya family is slated to arrive on March 15.
“As far as I know, all the children have started school already,” said Manitoulin refugee resettlement committee spokesperson Dr. Ben Quackenbush. “As of today there are four in high school and the rest have started in elementary school.”
One family member, who at 21 is barely too old to attend high school, was to register for upgrading at Cambrian College yesterday (Tuesday).
The process has been one of mutual learning as some of the simplest household items readily apparent to most Canadians (think likelihood of finding hot and cold water faucets in an eight-foot by 10-foot tent in a desert refugee camp) coming as a surprise to our newest Canadians. But according to the volunteers who are coaching them, there is no question the refugees are eager and quick to learn.
“The girls have been eager to take on the cooking,” said Little Current committee spokesperson Linda Erskine. Variable heat on a modern electric range is a big change from cooking over an open fire and requires a bit of a learning curve as well. “They are picking things up quickly.”
The concept of snow days is another decidedly Canadian artifact that took a bit of explaining to the young students who were eagerly lined up for the school bus last week. Their disappointed reaction to the news that school (buses at least) was cancelled proved somewhat untypical for a Canadian student. When school is an almost un-dreamed of privilege, rather than a daily task, perspectives can differ.
Some of the refugee children have arrived just in time to take part in a school outing to Science North and it is difficult to decide who is more excited, the children or those volunteers who have stepped up to accompany them on the jaunt.
One facet of the refugee’s plight they have hopefully left behind are the death threats and the daily possibility of violence, both of which some of the family members have experienced before their arrival on Manitoulin. That reality of their former life lays an unfamiliar layer upon the volunteers who are trying to assist the refugee’s settlement on Manitoulin.
