The Syrian family who we are co-sponsoring with a Group of Five arrived safely last night from Lebanon via Istanbul. Rashid and Amal and children Haya (6 year old girl) and Sam (one year old boy) were greeted by some of the Group and by Amal's sister Taghrid who is a settlement worker with the Arab Community Centre of Toronto, They are in good hands!

Most Syrian refugees have experienced trauma which manifests itself in different ways in different people. For those who might come into contact and work with Syrian refugees - and indeed with non-Syrian refugees who may also have experienced trauma - the following resource is a very helpful guide. http://trauma-informed.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Trauma-informed_Toolkit.pdf

For background information on Syria and Syrian refugees please go to http://lifelinesyria.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/EN-Syrian-Population-Profile.pdf

We are preparing to sponsor another refugee family, this time from Syria. Barbara Wood, Arvo Alfred and I met yesterday afternoon with a Syrian couple who have 3 children here - the family was brought here about a year ago under the Government Assisted Refugee (GAR) program. The family has an adult son and an adult daughter in Lebanon and they are under threat of being deported back to Syria where the men would almost certainly be forced into military service - both son and daughter are married with a 1 year old each. The family here is desperately seeing a sponsor so that the families can be re-united and so that the families still in Lebanon can be brought to safety.

World Renew (the Relief and Development arm of the Christian Reform Church in Canada) has agreed to be the Sponsorship Agreement Holder for the families. There is a mass of paperwork to be prepared and we need a volunteer translator to help with that work, starting immediately. If you can suggest anyone, please let me know as soon as possible.

Great news: I have just heard that the Syrian family which YPBC is co-sponsoring with a Group of Five, will be arriving from Lebanon on December 28. To protect their privacy I will not give their names, but the family consists of a mother, father, 6-year old daughter and 1-year old son. The wife has two sisters already in Canada.This has been a long and uncertain process for everyone involved and YPBC is very pleased to be associated with the wonderful Group that has made this possible, along with the United Church (as the Sponsorship Agreement Holder) and Lifeline Syria.

The Board of Missions has approved the sponsorship of a young family (a couple and a four-year old daughter - see picture above) from Pakistan, persecuted because of their faith and now in Bangkok, Thailand. World Renew (the Relief and Development arm of the Christian Reform Church in Canada) has agreed to be the Sponsorship Agreement Holder in support of this sponsorship. We will start working on the necessary paper-work shortly, but the timetable - and indeed the prospects of being approved to come to Canada - are completely unknown at this stage. Please keep the family in your prayers.