I first became aware of IWSO when our group of friends and acquaintances sponsored a Syrian woman and her children to come to Canada in the fall of 2019, under the Blended Visa Office – Referred (BVOR) program for refugees. This brave and resilient woman arrived in Canada with no knowledge of English or French, no formal education, and no employment experience. Moreover, she and her family had endured terrible violence that forced her to flee her home country, and her siblings were now scattered across the globe.

As if those challenges weren’t enough, the COVID-19 pandemic hit four months after their arrival. Communication – which had already been challenging – was now extremely difficult, since our group had almost no ability to communicate in Arabic, and the family had limited experience with web conferencing. At least previously, we’d been able to use Google Translate when meeting in person.

However, this family is incredibly adaptive and resilient. The mum managed to locate a couple of Syrian friends in Ottawa, and with support, navigated the process of getting her children into school and herself into language classes, obtained social assistance, and are now settled into their home and community in Ottawa’s east end.

None of this would have been possible without IWSO. Amenah Abdulhameed, past interim manager of IWSO’s Settlement services, was a godsend. She reached out to the family several times over the course of the past four years, providing information about community services and resources, and arranging for a settlement worker to provide support. Most importantly, she arranged for us to have translation services for several zoom meetings with the family, so we could talk through important issues like finances and education; a translator named Jewdet was particularly skillful and kind. While the mum hasn’t availed herself of any onsite services at IWSO yet, knowing that these are available is a real reassurance to her and our group.

Knowing first-hand the range of services IWSO provides to immigrant women and their families, the principles underlying the organization’s governance and programming, and the real benefits these services provide to women as well as sponsors, makes it easy for me to choose to support IWSO as a donor.