Torontonians gather with Barenaked Ladies to embrace refugees

Together Project’s annual fundraiser celebrated refugees and reminisced their journeys with music, dance, food, and wine

Music helps bring together refugee newcomers and Torontonians to build integrated communities
Together Project hosted an annual fundraiser for refugees in the studio of Jim Creeggan of the Barenaked Ladies Zeba Khan | Toronto Observer

Together Project, a Tides Canada initiative, brought together Torontonians in Barenaked Ladies’ bassist Jim Creeggan’s studio to celebrate and share stories of refugees on a cold Friday night.

The fundraiser is held annually to connect refugees with Canadians with the goal of building stronger, more integrated communities.

Artist and performer Julie Neff performed in Jim Creeggan’s studio for the Together Project annual fundraiser.

Some programs that the Together Project hosts are the Welcome Group Program, the Ritz-Carlton Succeed Through Service Newcomer Hospitality Program, and the TD Newcomer Urban Nature Access Pass program.

At the entrance, guests were welcomed by young volunteers eager to check in their coats and bags. They gave each guest a number and sent them away in the crowd, urging them to devour the food and drinks. 

The appetizer table had tasty Middle Eastern dishes from Toronto’s Maqloubeh Kitchen like kebobs, beet salad, warak enab (stuffed grape leaves) and labneh.

The room was filled with smiling guests, chatting away and laughing – warm against the cold Toronto weather. 

The lights were dim in the studio. On one side of the stage, there was a ceiling-high bookcase. On the other side, were drums, a giant violin, a piano, and guitars. 

From a Kenyan refugee camp to owning an enterprise

Keynote speaker and refugee from South Sudan, James Madhier stood before the crowd and talked about resilience and freedom against all odds. 

“From as early as maybe seven-years-old, I had to learn how to hide in a trench from bombs.”

James Madhier

“And one of the things that I learned, as unfortunate as that experience was, was the power of love and the power of staying in the now,“ Madhier said.

“Being in the trench for 10 or 15 minutes, and the bombs are dropping — you know that in the next, maybe 10 or something minutes, someone you really love is going to fall — or you’re going to fall to a bomb. [It] gives you a little bit of a perspective about what you consider important in life.”

At 15 years old, Madhier lived in Kakuma refugee camp, which he said is one of the harshest places on earth. At the camp, he learned about the power of having a place called home.

“I learned how important it is for each and every individual in this room to call himself or herself, Canadian and actually what comes with that — the immense privilege,” he said.

Keynote speaker James Madhier spoke to the crowd at the Together Project annual fundraiser in Toronto.

“You don’t have an identity as a refugee. ‘Refugee’ is a temporary status but then how temporary is it for people that are refugees for 20, 30 years, 40 years. How temporary is that situation?”

Madhier said that one of the most difficult experiences he faced in the refugee camp was losing his friend and classmate to bandits that came at night.

“Bandits came in, attacked our household. We tried to cry out to the police.” he said. ” We tried to call to see if anyone would come. Nobody did,” he said.

“It took the police six hours to come to us. And by the time they arrived, they were coming to collect the body.”

James Madhier

“That individual, that friend of mine is gone. And his identity is gone with him,” he said.

Madhier said that this event strongly shifted how he thinks about the world. 

“My commitment and my hope for the world is that no one should be a refugee,” Madhier said.

Madhier is now the founder of Rainmaker Enterprise, an organization geared towards providing climate-smart water solutions and environmental regeneration.

A former newcomer helps another

Two men stood on the stage in Jim Creeggan’s studio: Mohammed Ahmed and Dr. Bassam.

Two years ago, in August, Dr. Bassam landed in Toronto. Ahmed, an Ethiopian sponsor, was matched with Dr. Bassam and his family to help them integrate into their new life in Canada.

Mohammed Ahmed and Dr. Bassam (left to right) speak to the crowd about their experiences.

“When you sit at home and watch all this, you’ll be saying that wow, what can I do? How can I help? You’re incapable of going to that region and trying to help.”

Mohammed Ahmed

Dr. Bassam is an orthopedic surgeon. He worked with Doctors Without Borders in Jordan. He treated patients with war-inflicted injuries. He was a medical manager in charge of the reconstructive surgery project.

It was minus-7 degrees in Toronto and Dr. Bassam stood in front of a crowd of 80 people. There was a microphone in front of him and he looked deeply at the crowd.

“I’m here in Canada with my family: my wife Ehtezaaz; my three children Sarah, 10-years-old, Ehline 8-years-old and Mohammad, 5-years-old,” he told the crowd.

“Canada is a very cold country. There is snow in summer. Green everywhere. Grass, trees everywhere. I love this environment,” he said with a laugh.

“My wife loves this environment too. And she loves summer,” he laughed again.

“When I worked in the Syrian war, we were receiving almost every day, or every couple of days, mass casualties. We treated hundreds and hundreds of wounded people. Terrible injuries,” he said.

“We worked close to the Syrian-Jordanian border; bombing explosion everywhere around us.”

Dr. Bassam

Dr. Bassam said that he lived with the patients around him. They became his friends and he became theirs.

“When I treated children … actually most of the wounded people were civilians, women, and children. And I feel that those children were my children, my kids. They know my name.” he said

“I remember all the details about their lives. Sometimes I’m very happy because I helped them to walk again. And some of them had to be amputated in their limbs or….” he trailed off, tearing up.

“I have many stories and details. I will not go deep about them.”

Dr. Bassam

“We want to discover our new life in our new country. We want to meet friends. We want to understand the culture,” Dr. Bassam said.

His dreams and goals are to practice his profession again: an orthopedic surgeon. 

Refugees are not ungrateful

Despite recent discriminatory comments of ex-Sportsnet host, Don Cherry attacking immigrants, refugees attending the fundraiser were still hopeful. 

“Refugees are the people who know what it is like to have freedom because that’s what they went searching for.”

James Madhier

“For refugees to leave and for immigrants to leave their homes and come to Canada, as developed as it is, it’s still very uncomfortable: uncomfortable for a baby and uncomfortable for an adult on so many levels.” 

Madhier said that anyone thinking that refugees and immigrants are ungrateful for the opportunities in Canada is somebody who is living in a very small box.

The night continued with performances by Kevin Hearn and Jim Creeggan of the Barenaked Ladies, Julie Neff, Mike Evin, Tamar Ilana, Waleed, Tarek Ghriri, and Nour Kdn. 

WALEED performed beautiful African beats and songs for the crowd.

The newcomers and their sponsors sipped on wine, sang, and danced the night away. 

“What is life? The answer is hope. Hoping that tomorrow is going to be better than today.”

Mohammed Ahmed

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Posted: Nov 27 2019 1:22 pm
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