Singing

Mathew McCarthy,Record staff

Waterloo Collegiate Institute students sing during a fundraising launch at the school Monday. The goal is to raise $30,000 in 30 days for a Syrian refugee family.

Waterloo Region Record

WATERLOO — Waterloo Collegiate Institute is embarking on an ambitious project — the sponsorship of a Syrian refugee family.

With the help of Calvary United Church in St. Jacobs, the school community is sponsoring a family that could arrive in the next few months. On Monday, the school kicked off a $30,000 fundraiser in which it hopes to collect $30,000 in 30 days.

"We are ambitious with confidence because of our history and the climate we have built here," said Lynn Schulze, head of the English as a second language program at Waterloo Collegiate.

The Hazel Street school is one of four English as a second language magnet public schools in Waterloo Region. They assist recent refugee and immigrants students. Of the 1,200 students at Waterloo Collegiate, 25 per cent are ESL students.

"In the last decade we have set a foundation of equity and inclusion here. We worked really hard at it. We aren't perfect but we try," Schulze said.

The St. Jacobs church is sponsoring its own family — a mother and two adult sons — that is set to arrive shortly. The school doesn't yet have a profile of its family.

Lorie Silverthorne, chair of the refugee committee at the church, said the school connected with the church and volunteers agreed to help the school co-ordinate the sponsorship.

"We can learn from their experience working with refugee students and we can facilitate the background process," she said.

"It's exciting. This is an opportunity to help another family beyond the one we are helping," Silverthorne said.

On Monday, the school's sponsorship team, made up of staff and students, many of whom are immigrants and former refugees, kick-started the fundraiser with a school assembly featuring a historical video on the Syrian refugee crisis and immigrant students commenting on what inspires them to help.

So far, $5,100 has been collected through a donation from the United Church of Canada that came through the St. Jacobs church. The school plans to hold a Fast for Freedom event on Jan. 8 in which students will hold a 24-hour fast and collect money from sponsors.

The school also will be looking for donations of clothing, furniture and other household items. It hopes to find housing within the Waterloo Collegiate area, said principal Jennifer Shortreed.

Grade 11 student Elia Zabayo is on the school sponsorship team. He and his family, including his parents and five siblings, came to Canada from a refugee camp in Uganda after fleeing their home in Congo more than 15 years ago.

The family was privately sponsored by Glen Acres Baptist Church in Waterloo.

"I remember all these people at the airport welcoming me. It was like magic," said Zabayo. "My dad cried."

Zabayo recalls getting lost on his first day at Waterloo Collegiate and thinking "it was the biggest school ever."

He says many students didn't say hello. He wants to make sure it's different for the refugees who will arrive soon. "I have to reach out to them. I won't wait for them to come to me," said the 17-year-old.

Grade 12 student Hoda Alobaidi came to Canada from Jordan as a government-sponsored refugee more than two years ago. Her family fled their homeland of Iraq.

She remembers her first experience at school being lonely. "It's hard to fit in," she said. "I want to raise awareness and reach out to the refugee students. They are in shock."

Adnan Nafisa is Syrian-born but lived in Saudi Arabia for seven years before his parents sent him to live with a cousin in Turkey where he would be safe. But one day while sitting in a park, feeling lonely and sad, he met a stranger who arranged for a bogus passport, allowing him to leave Turkey and end up in Montreal. The stranger also paid for his flight.

Nafisa, 16, arrived in Waterloo almost three months ago and lives here with two brothers. He's grateful to be safe but misses his parents dearly.

"My dream is to bring my parents here," said the teen.

For more information on how you can help the Waterloo school, go to http://wci.wrdsb.ca.

lmonteiro@therecord.com , Twitter: @MonteiroRecord