A Syrian couple from the middle eastern sect of the Druze community have been building a new life here with the support of a Morden family.
Luay Abou Rashid and Yara Hamza normally about now would have been celebrating Eid al-Adha, or the Festival of Sacrifice, but it is not a time of celebration for them right now given the level of suffering among their people back home.
“This year it was no happiness,” said Rashid, who came to Canada in 2023 but was originally from the southern Syrian province of Suwayda. “It was very different and painful for us.
“Because of the last events in Suwayda, our community decided not to do any festivals and only to make some gathering for candle lighting and remember them,” he said. “Before 2010 … Syria was a beautiful country … but the regime was very dictatorial, very hard.”
“Everything changed … I lost everything in two days,” said Hamza.
“I was very moved when I heard about the decision of the Druze leaders not to celebrate Eid in solidarity with families who had lost homes and loved ones,” wrote Sally and Keith Marsolais, who have welcomed and supported the couple here. “When I think about how difficult holidays can be for people who are grieving, and what it might mean for an entire community to pause celebrations and grieve together, it feels like such a purposeful and meaningful act of care and solidarity.”
Rashid had lived in Damascus before the troubles led him to leave and return to Suwayda. He then went to Lebanon and then a bit later was in the Democratic Republic of Congo before returning to Lebanon while searching or a way to leave and start a new life somewhere else.
It was through an organization called Talent Beyond Boundaries that he was able to then immigrate to Canada. Hamza was able to join him here just last year.
The couple reflected on how the violence in Syria and for them particularly in Suwayda has impacted nearly every family to some degree, so what is usually a time of celebration instead has become a time to remember and honour those who have been killed and who are suffering.
“I am trying to support them as much as I can,” Rashid said of his family and friends back in Syria, where they continue to face “a lot of pressure, no jobs, everything is restricted.”
They continue to pray and hope for peace in their homeland.
“I hope next year will be better for people and for Syria to be more stable and the people to like each other more,” Rashid said.
“I hope that we finish all of this,” said Hamza. “I hope that we return, love each other as we were in the last years, forget all these difficult times with each other, rebuild our city again.
“We need to return to our lives.”
Rashid and Hamza voiced their thanks for the love and support they’ve received from the Marsolais family. The Marsolais, in turn, share that hosting the couple have broadened their worldview significantly.
“Our experience in sharing our home with Yara and Luay has been incredibly positive,” they say. “Before this, we didn’t know anything about Druze people. We had never even heard of them, so there were definitely assumptions we had made without realizing it. Because of that, it has been really meaningful to learn more and to better understand where Yara and Luay come from.
“One of the most rewarding parts has been realizing that simple acts of kindness and inclusion can truly make a difference, not only for Yara and Luay here but also for their family and friends back home who are still suffering. Hearing that our support here in Morden has had an impact on their family back home has been very meaningful and rewarding for us.
“As parents with adult children ourselves, I can only imagine how worried their families must have been to say goodbye and have them move so far away. To hear we have lightened their burden of worry even just a little, is such a gift,” they continued.
“If anything, this experience has reinforced for us how important it is for people to open up their homes and their lives to others, to step outside of their comfort zones and to see how much we can learn from one another. We believe people everywhere want the same basic things – a good life, safety and opportunity for their families—no matter where they come from,” they continued.
“We have also seen first hand how difficult it is to leave everything behind and start over somewhere new. At the same time, we have been incredibly impressed by the work ethic and determination of this family. We have seen how committed they are to building a future here while still caring deeply for and supporting loved ones back home.
“This experience has also made the world feel much smaller. We now pay close attention to the news from that region, and whenever something happens there, we immediately think about the people we know and care about,” the Marsolais concluded. “We count ourselves lucky to be able to play a part in helping a family build a new sense of home here in Morden.”
