A family of Syrian refugees living in North Vancouver are getting a financial boost from a crowdfunding campaign after their Blueridge home was burgled Wednesday.
The Abdulhafiz family’s young sons came home from school to find the house ransacked, according to North Vancouver RCMP spokesman Cpl. Richard De Jong.
Thieves forced open a window and took a black Sony PlayStation, a dark grey Dell laptop, about $200 cash, and a black suitcase with boys’ clothes, De Jong said.
Police are looking for witnesses.
The crooks also got away with cellphone chargers and medication, according to Angela Duso, community director with the Blueridge Community Association.
“For a family that arrived in this country with nothing but the clothing on their backs, the loss is devastating, not to mention the violation of having their house broken into,” Duso wrote on the community association’s gofundme.com page.
Duso urged Good Samaritans to help the family replace what was stolen and “show them that the world is (mostly) made up of decent people.”
At press time, 29 donors had contributed $2,015 to help the family of five.
The family fled war-ravaged Syria and endured a Beirut refugee camp before their plane landed at Vancouver International Airport on Jan. 15.
The Abdulhafiz family arrived in Canada four years after the bombing of their home in Syria prompted them to flee Damascus on foot.
Honada Abdulhafiz recalled carrying her youngest son in her arms and sidestepping the bodies of murdered refugees to get to Beirut.
Speaking through a translator, Honada compared the Lebanon refugee camp to a jail.
After touching down in Canada, Honada expressed modest hopes for the future.
“To be able to sleep safely, for the kids to be able to go to school and get an education, to be able to eat and live a simple life,” she said.
The family acclimatized to their new lives fairly smoothly, according to Cynthia Bunbury, who belongs to a refugee sponsorship group consisting of several North Shore churches.
“They are all enjoying good health, making new friends and participating in all sorts of community events,” she wrote in an email.
The parents have both had health issues, but are attending English classes and “living well,” according to Bunbury.
The youngest and oldest child are getting assistance with their developmental disabilities, and the middle child is “learning English by leaps and bounds,” according to Bunbury.
–with files from Maria Spitale-Leisk
