During the summer of 2009, I travelled to Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and Egypt. Before my travels, I had been raising awareness and funds locally in Canada for Palestinian refugees who were forced out of Iraq due to the war and were currently trapped in a “no man’s land” between Syria and Iraq. I was volunteering with several faith-based groups in Vancouver and my travel gave me a great opportunity to discuss the relocation program for the refugees with the Canadian Embassy, in addition to visiting the refugee camps.
The trip to Damascus allowed me to meet the families who will be moved to Vancouver as well as initiate local efforts to raise awareness and funds for the different groups I was involved with. Upon my return, we raised tens of thousands of dollars from the community, and specifically $1,000 through the hiking community.
The refugees eventually moved to Vancouver and other Canadian cities. Some of these families eventually went hiking with us and some even became regular attendees! They eventually gave back to the community for other causes, whether they were local initiatives like helping the homeless of Vancouver, or global causes like helping other refugees in Syria, etc.