Abdullah’s story
Abdullah was born in a village in Syria and spent most of his childhood there with his father, mother and younger siblings. In the mornings his mother would wake up to prepare breakfast for the family before they all went off to school. Abdullah’s father worked at the school that the children attended so after eating and preparing they would all go to school together. The children were hardworking and had reached the top of their classes. They were all looking forward to completing their education. Abdullah’s family was filled with love and his life was happy.
One day, in 2012 when Abdullah was 14 years old, he and his classmates were in the school yard and they noticed airplanes flying over the school. They saw that something was thrown out of one of the planes. It fell on a house next to the school and exploded, killing an entire family that included five students from the school. The school fence also collapsed in the explosion and killed another student. The principal told all of the students and staff to leave the school and Abdullah’s father took his hand and ran home with him as the bombing continued throughout the village.
When they reached home, nobody was there. They found his family hiding in a grove of olive trees at the outskirts of the village. His mother, siblings, aunt, uncle and grandmother were all there taking shelter among the trees. Abdullah was so happy to be reunited with his family but was still filled with sorrow and was in tears after having seen his classmate killed.
Abdullah and his family stayed in the olive grove and watched the planes bombing their village until it grew dark. Everyone was cold and hungry and they had no food or water with them. The bombing continued and began to grow closer to the olive trees. The family needed to flee once again. They ran from the bombs, but Abdullah could not see his parents in the dark. They found shelter in some homes that had been destroyed in a nearby village. When the sun rose Abdullah’s parents were not with him. His aunt took him with her and told him that his family would follow. They got in a car and drove until they reached Lebanon but Abdullah’s parents and siblings ended up in Turkey instead.
Abdullah’s aunt and her husband took him in and treated him as one of their own children. Although he loved learning and longed to complete his education, he was not able to do so in the refugee camp in Lebanon. He had to work to survive and ended up getting a job in a tire shop. It caused him great pain to watch children as they walked to school with their books while he was mistreated at work.
In 2017, Abdullah’s aunt and her family got sponsored to move to Canada. It was a great opportunity for the family to improve their lives and ensure their children could have access to education, but since Abdullah was not an immediate family member he was not eligible to move with them. Abdullah once again had to be separated from the only family he had left.
Abdullah continues to live in a refugee camp in Lebanon. As a refugee he does not have the rights of a citizen of Lebanon and will never be able to gain citizenship. He works hard as a painter to make a living for himself but has never been able to finish his education and pursue his dreams. Abdullah’s aunt and uncle want to bring him to Canada to reunite with him and help him to have opportunities as a young adult that were taken from him in his youth.