Syrian refugees privately sponsored by Halifax committee arriving Wednesday

The co-ordinator of a Halifax refugee committee says his phone won't stop beeping with text messages — a sign of the frenzied preparation before a family of Syrians arrives in Halifax on Wednesday. 

"Many hands make light work, as the saying goes, and it's so true here," said Chris Yetman, who is on a committee at Saint Benedict Parish that is sponsoring the family. 

"We're obviously excited about it and we're very pleased for them that they're going to get out of the conditions they were living in and be here and be safe. We know it's going to be a bit of an adjustment for them." 

The family of four was supposed to land in Halifax on Dec. 10. Yetman said he doesn't know why the family was delayed, but "once they're here, it doesn't matter."

The sponsorship was approved on June 1, but the 15-person committee only had nine days to find an apartment, furnish it and make final preparations before the family's scheduled arrival last week. 

"We're fully ready to go," Yetman said. "I have to really say that the committee has just gone over and above to pull this thing together."

Yetman says the family is not part of the recent wave of Syrian refugees who arrived in Toronto.

5th refugee sponsorship

Three committee members will greet the family at the airport tomorrow to help "take the shock of coming downstairs in arrivals and being overwhelmed with the people and the potential media that could be there."

The family will then be taken to their apartment in Halifax, Yetman says. 

"If they're tired, we'll just leave them be. But we'll let them know what the next few days will be like in terms of appointments," he said.

It's his fifth successful refugee sponsorship since 2004. He calls Saint Benedict's committee a "pretty well-oiled machine." 

"Depending on the size of the family, you try to get — in our case — a minimum of $20,000 at least raised to support the family for one year," Yetman said.

In the coming days, the committee will help the family with necessities — including bank accounts, social insurance and health cards — and introduce them to the city's Ummah Mosque.

'More people that need help'

The heightened attention to the Syrian crisis has not clogged the sponsorship process, Yetman said. If anything, it's made the process easier and faster.

"We are also waiting on the arrival of a family from Congo, who we've been waiting for for three-and-a-half years," he said.

In contrast, it took only six months for the Syrian refugee family to arrive once their application was approved.

"The Syrian family is coming sooner which is fantastic. We are sincerely happy for them that they are coming, that we can be there to help them integrate into Canadian society," Yetman said.

"But like anything, there's more people out there. There's more people that need help."