'Twas the
night before … not Christmas, but the day we would meet our refugee family at
the Hotel Travelodge in Toronto. I had the same feeling of excitement I had
when I was a little girl listening to the radio announcer tell us NORAD had
picked up the latest location of Santa and he was getting nearer.
I woke up at
4 am even though we didn’t have to leave for the airport until 9:30 am. When we
arrived at the hotel the lobby was abuzz with government workers and recent
refugees and a feeling of excitement and energy. A huge Christmas tree in the
corner overlooked the scene. We were directed to a table where an Immigration
Canada worker checked their list and said the family would be right down.
I
asked them to wait as the relatives of our family had not arrived and I wanted
the families to see each other first. As I watched the young children running
and tumbling around the room and I could see the relief and happiness in the
faces of the parents I struggled to hold back my tears.
It had been such a long
journey to bring our family to Canada that I could barely believe that we were
about to meet them. And then we did ….
They emerged from the elevator into the arms of their family, crying and
and smiling and holding each other. All of us there felt so privileged to see this and to be part of this historic
yet very personal movement of people to a better life in Canada.
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