U of R summer program helping refugee children settle in Sask.

Article content

Regina local Faisal Samadyar has spent the last two months of Saturdays surrounded by the cacophony of 40 excited, chattering children.

He’s one of several volunteer translators working with a once-a-week day program for refugee families called Prairie Beginnings.

It can be chaotic at times, he admitted, but worth the effort.

“It’s just been a pleasure, to be doing this,” Samadyar said in an interview Sunday. “I’m just really proud of what I’m doing, dedicating my Saturdays to them.”

The program is organized by the University of Regina, offered as a resettlement support for refugee children, aged six to 12, who have recently arrived in the province.

Miguel Sanchez, associate professor in the Faculty of Social Work, describes Prairie Beginnings as a safe space, meant to help kids acclimate to their new lives in Saskatchewan and to navigate the traumatic experience of displacement.

“(We’re) here to help them learn the new customs, the new environment they’re going to be experiencing,” Sanchez said.

Prairie Beginnings started in 2016 as a response to the Syrian refugee crisis that saw 25,000 people fleeing civil war resettled in Canada over a period of four months.

“(In 2015), we realized that one of the refugee populations that was the most socially isolated were kids,” Sanchez explained. “So, we developed this program to fill that gap.”

The kids do learning-based crafts, try new sports and even go on field trips to Regina must-sees like the Royal Saskatchewan Museum and the Queen City Ex.

Programming is run by U of R social work students, supplemented by faculty staff and volunteers, like Samadyar, for those who aren’t fluent in English.

This year, children from Afghanistan, Ukraine and countries in Africa and the Middle East took part, a new level of diversity for the program.

Samadyar said that Prairie Beginnings has been a fun way to end his week, but it’s also a program that feels very personal, as he himself first came to Canada as a refugee more than 10 years ago.

Samadyar left Afghanistan as a months-old baby in 1990, seeking refuge in Iran. He was separated from his parents as a child after, at the age of eight, crossing borders from Iran onwards to Germany on lifeboats and hidden in semi trailers.

As a young adult, he was reunited with his mother and siblings at the Regina airport in 2008 and then with his father a few years later.

His own life experience has given him an intimate understanding of what it’s like to find one’s footing in a new place after so much uncertainty.

“I know exactly what these guys are coming from,” he said, about the kids he now works with. “What’s happening with them, coming from zero, having nothing and creating something. It’s not easy.”

It has been a unique experience, he said, where he’s really bonded with the kids.

“Last week, I was on holiday, and apparently a few of the girls didn’t even want to do anything because I wasn’t there,” he laughed. “That feels really special to hear.”

He first got involved through other volunteer work with the Regina Open Door Society, agreeing to help as Prairie Beginnings was welcoming Afghan children for the first time this year.

He’s since found it fulfilling, a way to give back for kids living the same reality he once did.

“There’s a sense of pride, because I went through it and now I can offer (advice),” Samadyar said.

He said programs like Prairie Beginnings were not offered when his mother and siblings arrived in Canada 15 years ago, but would have been appreciated considering how hard his single mother worked to make them feel at home.

They’re still relatively sparse, agreed Sanchez, which is part of what makes the program unique.

Prairie Beginnings focuses on literacy, language and inclusion, but perhaps more importantly just lets kids socialize without feeling out of place, he said.

“One of (the girls from Ukraine) said she wants to come here every Saturday because she learns new things but also made friends from Somalia,” Sanchez said. “Here, they can be exposed to a more diverse society.”

Samadyar said the atmosphere is always enthusiastic, with the kids “happy and overjoyed” to spend Saturdays together.

“They’re really great, and it’s hard for them to say goodbye at the end of the day,” he said.

After a hiatus due to COVID-19, Prairie Beginnings returned this summer with a late start in July and concludes this Saturday.

Sanchez said it’s relieving to see things back in action, as the program offers a hugely beneficial experience for social work students and a valuable support for newcomer families.

“We’re providing a service to the community that we really think (is) needed,” said Sanchez. “And it makes sense for us, because Saskatchewan is becoming more and more a point of immigration.”

lkurz@postmedia.com

The news seems to be flying at us faster all the time. From COVID-19 updates to politics and crime and everything in between, it can be hard to keep up. With that in mind, the Regina Leader-Post has created an Afternoon Headlines newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox to help make sure you are up to date with the most vital news of the day. Click here to subscribe.