In 2019, Mohammed Alyones and his family gratefully embraced the lifeline Mennonites threw them. Tavistock Mennonite Church and East-Zorra Mennonite Church sponsored Mohammed, his wife Najwa and six of their seven children to resettle in Canada.
After fleeing Syria in 2011, the family spent eight difficult years in Lebanon, where more than 1.5 million fellow Syrian refugees have fled, overwhelming an already vulnerable country. Discrimination and exploitation were not uncommon. “Sometimes we would go do some work for a week, 10 days, 15 days,” recalls Mohammed’s son Ahmad. “And then when you finish, they’d be like, ‘I’m not paying you anything. Get out of here.’”
The Tavistock and East Zorra churches are one of the 183 private sponsor groups that MCC Ontario supports to welcome newcomers. These two churches have sponsored more than half a dozen families over the years, most of them Muslim families from Syria.
To express his gratitude to MCC, Mohammed turned to the craft he knows best: stonework. A professional stone mason, Mohammed a sculpted monument made of different kinds of stone, emblazoned with the letters “MCC”. He installed the sculpture in a garden at the MCC Ontario office at 50 Kent Avenue in Kitchener. Creating the sculpture took hundred of pounds of stone and three days of dusty, hard work. “Carving the three letters ‘MCC’ took 12 hours,” he says through interpretation by Ahmad.
Mohammed, Najwa and their children’s start to life in Canada was difficult. “They came just as COVID-19 was rearing its ugly head,” recalls Mardi Lichti, an experienced sponsor from Tavistock MC. “They barely got here and everything started shutting down. It was really hard on them.” However, after the pandemic, the family began to hit their stride with lots of support from the sponsor group and Syrian community in Waterloo Region.
The Alyones family had a special connection to MCC: Rick Cober Bauman (recently retired executive director of MCC Canada) and his wife Louise were among the core sponsors. “They showed Mohammed and his family the wider work of MCC,” remembers Mardi. “The family volunteers with the thrift shop, they bank with Kindred Credit Union. They have a deep appreciation for MCC and the Mennonite community.”
Today, the family is thriving: Ahmad is working odd jobs, his sister has graduated and found employment, and younger siblings are pursuing their education. Mohammed has launched a small stonework company, although business is slow.
MCC’s office is not the only place where Mohammed has shown his appreciation through his craftmanship. He and his sons and nephews have created beautiful, massive walls on the farms of a number of the sponsor group members.
Members of the sponsor group have learned about hospitality and generosity from the newcomer families too.
“They're just so grateful for what we've done, but we are grateful to have to know them, too,” reflects Mardi. The core sponsor group still gathers regularly with Mohammed and the rest of the extended family and friends for meals and celebrations.
“They’ll be told, ‘don't bring anything’ - but that falls on deaf ears,” laughs Mardi. “Because they know how much we like their food!”
Mohammed and his family’s gratitude for Mennonites and MCC is deep and lifelong.
“You feel the humanity,” says Ahmad, Mohammed’s son. “When they want to help you, you can see the humanity. It’s overwhelming.”
At 50 Kent, Mohammed’s monument now stands as a lasting reminder: gratitude can be carved in stone, and hope can be built anew.
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While the Canadian government has cut back drastically on the number of refugees allowed in, MCC Ontario is still looking for private sponsors for the cost-sharing Blended Visa Office Referred (BVOR) program. The BVOR program assists the most vulnerable refugees who are pre-screened and travel-ready. The federal government also provides the minimal financial support required for six months of sponsorship. Email refugee@mcco.ca for a thorough auto-reply message that answers many questions and gives next steps.