The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

5 | W aterloo C hronicle | T hursday,D ecem ber 23,2021 w aterloochronicle.ca "One of the greatest holiday traditions is taking care of each other, and it's something Canadians do all year round...because that's who we are." - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Wishing you a safe, healthy, and joyous holiday season. Bardish.Chagger Bardish_ChaggerBardish.Chagger@parl.gc.ca BardishKW Member of Parliament for Waterloo519-746-1573 help, we called them." The problem with refu- gee settlement in 2021 is that organizations over- burdened by government- sponsored Afghans don't have enough resources on the ground to do it, said Graham Hill, a member of the group that raised thou- sands of dollars to sponsor the Al Hamouds. "You hear about these Afghan families coming in and living in a hotel and complaining $20 isn't enough to eat on, and they're right," he said. "They have nothing to cook on." Hill believes there need to be better mechanisms so new refugees can connect with community members for orientation on a regular basis and develop close- knit relationships. The blended visa office- referred program (BVOR) that splits resettlement fees with private sponsors was suspended during the pandemic; however, feder- al sponsorship agreement holders like the Mennonite Central Committee that work with community sponsors expect the pro- gram to be revived in 2022, according to MCC program director Wendy Adema. The overall number of refugees can be over- whelming and hard to fath- om, but this "welcome-a- stranger" model is a practi- cal, tangible way that a small group of people can make an immense differ- ence in someone's life. An intake of expressions of interest is planned from Jan. 1 to 8, 2022. Interested groups can reach out to ref- ugee@mcco.ca. Government assisted refugees don't do nearly as well as those with private sponsorship groups, ac- cording to Ann Liebau, Hill's wife and a member of the uptown neighbourhood group. "I think it's really that connection piece, because you can't just show up at The Waterloo Inn and knock on a door and say, 'Hey, do you want to go apartment hunting?'" she said. Local families have raised $30,000 to bring a cousin of the Al Hamouds' to Canada but are now playing a waiting game. Ar- rivals of named refugees can take years after paper- work is submitted. According to Immigra- tion, Refugees and Citizen- ship Canada, as of Oct. 31, only 4,500 privately spon- sored refugees had arrived in Canada this year. The in- take target is 22,500. Meanwhile, the appetite in the community for named, private sponsor- ship opportunities is rela- tively high, according to Adema, who said agree- ment holders like the MCC would welcome capacity to do more as there's such a need for "durable settle- ment solutions". Asmaa recently agreed to an interview with the Chronicle and no longer re- quires a translator. The transition for her children has been seamless as her daughters Shahed, 9, and Hala, 6, have been brought up learning En- glish in the classroom. Her husband Abdullah is employed as a truck driv- er and now that their three children are all in school, she too is going to be looking for paid work. Adam, 4, was born a Ca- nadian citizen and now partakes in popular pas- times with his siblings, such as watching hockey and eating pancakes with maple syrup, his mom not- ed in an email, adding that they recently purchased skates to enjoy local out- door rinks with friends from the neighbourhood this winter. Both Hill and Liebau come from families that have been directly involved with refugee settlement over the years and say the benefits, including making lifetime friends, far out- weigh the work. "We put on special events and whatever for our own well-being but we felt like we really wanted to reach beyond our neigh- bourhood to make a differ- ence with other people," Liebau said. "To be honest with you, we started this as a neigh- bourhood association by brainstorming ways we could actually bring neigh- bours together," said Hill. "It's the best community building thing we've ever come up with to actually get people within the neigh- bourhood to meet each oth- er and actually feel like they're doing something." More information about ways people can help with settlement efforts can be found at www.immigra- tionpartnershipwaterloo- region.ca. STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Support for gov- ernment-sponsored refu- gees arriving in Canada has been lacking and the Chronicle talked to local groups about private spon- sorship options. NEWS Continued from page 3 Members of a local neighbourhood association prepare a home for a family of Syrian refugees in this file photo. Mathew McCarthy/Metroland 'IT'S THE BEST COMMUNITY BUILDING THING WE'VE EVER COME UP WITH'