An official project a few years in the making*, the first of our Hiking Series with refugee and newcomer youth took us to Lynn Canyon. A majority of them arriving in the last month from Syria and Palestine, the youth and their families woke up 4 hours early yesterday, eager to get outdoors and take in the beauty of their new home.
There were more than 20 youth in attendance, along with some of their parents. In fact, more people wanted to join but we had to limit the numbers due to transportation limits.
As an outdoor group with a mission of giving back to our community, our volunteer members have worked tirelessly over the last few years to do whatever we can to help victims of war. On a day when Syrian civilians were gearing up to be bombed by corrupt regimes, local refugees took comfort in the fact that Canadians have opened up their hearts and homes. A day spent in nature can be a huge break for the psychological trauma of their escape to freedom.
Thanks to our volunteers and to the organizers of ISSofBC‘s youth program, we’ll continue with the series over the next year. If you want to volunteer or donate, please contact us.
Due to budget restraints, we previously stuck to purchasing plastic water bottles for our attendees. In keeping with our mission to be sustainable and environmental-friendly, we needed a more permanent option. Thanks to the MEC Surrey distribution center, we collected 25 bottles for the attendees to re-use on our hikes. This will eliminate the use of plastic bottles, waste and reduce costs. This also teaches our newcomer attendees about how they can impact the environment.
*: Our projects to help Syrian refugee children started in 2013, when the founder of Nature PhotoHikes, Nafees Shams, traveled to Turkey to volunteer at refugee camps on the border between Syria and Turkey. For more information on the projects he and his community was involved with, please visit helprefugeechildren.org.