On Thursday, November 17th, the Grade 6 students had the honour of hearing Zakaria Al Mokdad’s story about his life in Syria before the war, and his courageous escape with his family to Jordan, and now to Canada. The students were able to relate closely with Zakaria’s description of the lives children experienced in Syria before the war began in 2011. They enjoyed seeing pictures and hearing about Syrian children’s favourite sports, games and junk food. While it was difficult to hear about the devastation that Zakaria and his family experienced, it was quite uplifting to hear how happy he is to be in Canada as of this past August, and how well his family is adjusting to Canadian life. After the presentation, we discussed how lucky it is to be part of a peaceful democracy, and students expressed a passion to get involved in this crisis and take action to help others. We want to thank The Gellman family for connecting us with Zakaria, as they were part of the group that sponsored Zakaria and his family to come live in Canada.
