Image of Alan Kurdi dead on a beach moves Winnipeg woman to help Syrian refugees

Winnipegger Vicki Melo couldn't get the image out of her mind.

The little Syrian boy lying face down on a beach in Turkey still haunts her. The three-year-old boy, Alan Kurdi, died after the boat he was in capsized in the Aegean Sea in September. He was trying to get to a safer place with his family.

"Every time I think about him I just tear up," said Melo. "We read about it in the news, about the crisis in Syria but when I saw that photo of that little boy. I have a daughter about the same age as him and so it really hit home for me."

The 30-year-old woman continued to follow the plight of Syrian refugees through the media and decided she had to do something more.

On Monday, Melo posted on her Facebook page that she was considering sponsoring a Syrian refugee family, and wanted to know if anyone else was interested in helping out.  Within a day, 160 people were on board and by Tuesday, that number grew to 365. 

"This is what makes Canada so great, we're so diverse we're so colourful and we're kind people and I feel like we have so much room, we have so much we can share," said Melo.

By the end of the year, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) expects it will have helped 200 refugees find sponsors in Canada.  

"Right now I have about five or six churches and groups waiting for me to match them with a refugee family," said Arisnel Mesidor, MCC migration and re-settlement program co-ordinator.

Mesidor said the last time there was this much interest in sponsoring refugees was in the early 80s with the Vietnam boat people.

"I'm very busy, but I'm very happy. It makes me also feel grateful for being in this country," said Mesidor. 

Mesidor came to Canada from Haiti in 2002 as an international student. He's been here ever since and knows the generosity of Manitobans first hand. Still, he said even though Canada has committed to sponsoring 25,000 Syrian refugees, it's just a drop in the bucket.

"No matter how many refugees we sponsor to be resettled in Canada and in all other countries worldwide, resettlement is only 1% of all refugees," Mesidor said.

Private sponsorship costs about $12,600 for one refugee.  If it's a family of four, the dollar amount is closer to $27,000 for the entire family.  But money alone isn't enough to resettle refugees.
It takes both a financial commitment and volunteers to make Canada a home for new immigrants.

"They need people who will help them with language, who will help them navigate government offices to have their papers done," said Mesidor. "They will need people to give them a ride to teach them how to use public transportation. It is different then some other countries.  Teach them things like how to maintain a home in the city... How to manage a budget and how to shop around."

Mesidor remembers when he first came to Canada, he didn't even know what long johns were, and needed someone to explain it to him, as well as show him how to dress appropriately for a Manitoba winter.

"What I tell people, when you are newcomers to Canada it doesn't really matter if you came as a refugee or in an international student or a visitor, it still cold for everybody. The cold feels the same for everybody," Mesidor laughed.

Mesidor will meet with Melo and her group on Sunday to help them prepare to sponsor a family of their own.

"I don't feel like I'm rescuing anybody I just feel like it's a moral obligation that we have when we've been giving more than we need to help others. So I just feel like I'm doing my part and I hope that other people want to do the same," said Melo. 

Melo welcomes other Manitobans to join her Facebook page titled Winnipeg Refugee Sponsorship Group. She's also started an online crowd funding campaign to help with the cost of resettling a Syrian family.

"It's about $30,000 and $35,000 that we need to raise. If we raise more we'll sponsor more.  But if we just make that goal, we'll be happy with that," said Melo.