In 2011 Oubyda Al-Hamwi was taking fire in his home in Homs, Syria.
“Sometimes when I need to move in my home, I would move like this,” Al-Hamwi said, making the motion of crawling on his hands and knees.
Feb. 21 marks the one-year anniversary of his family’s arrival in Penticton and Al-Hamwi is starting to look towards the future, hoping to bring the culinary creations of his culture to the Okanagan.
It was a long journey for Al-Hamwi, moving his family to Jordan in 2011, where they remained for five years as refugees, with Al-Hamwi often unable to find work with many from Syria seeking refuge in the country.
“But when I lived in Jordan I was happy because all of my family was beside me,” Al-Hamwi said. “But I needed to go, I needed work and in Jordan I couldn’t have that.”
He and his family were helped by the Catholic Church in Penticton come to Canada through a refugee sponsorship.
He didn’t know much about Penticton while en route, or the group of people who helped him relocate.
“They tell me you have some people waiting for you in the Penticton airport. Who are these people? I don’t know,” Al-Hamwi said. “I watch on TV that some people don’t like Muslims. In Canada people like Muslims. No problems for me. When I come here, and I see Marc (Veillette, part of the sponsorship group) at the airport, and for five minutes I was not scared,” Al-Hamwi said. “I’m sure now they are very, very good people.”
Al-Hamwi and his wife have two young boys and a 10-month old baby girl, born at the Penticton Regional Hospital.
“I’m a lucky man to know these people. Everything that I was scared of in Jordan is different here. When I go to pray, nobody went to speak with me, when I go for a walk with my wife and she wears the hijab, nobody says anything,” Al-Hamwi said.
Prior to the war, Al-Hamwi recalls his Syrian home as a much different place.
“In Syria, before 2011, it was a very nice place. Safe place, nice, everything is good. I have work, I have a home, I have a car, everything. In 2011 … Syria is very, very dangerous.”
He and his family were constantly on the move.
“Because maybe you live here, and some bombs come, you must move,” Al-Hamwi said.
There have been challenges to relocating half way across the world, but the future is looking promising for his children in Canada.
“Here the language is difficult for me, but my boys, no. My boys speak English very good, me a little bit,” Al-Hamwi said.
He worked at Sandman Hotel doing laundry services for the past summer and is getting a job at a local cleaning service starting soon.
Al-Hamwi said the Catholic Church group and South Okanagan Immigrant and Community Services (SOICS) have helped him immensely.
“Nobody left me alone. They helped me at looking for a job, how I can live here. They helped me get schooling for my son, my boys, everything. Nobody left me here alone if I needed anything,” Al-Hamwi said.
It’s just a dream right now, but Al-Hamwi hopes to run a small restaurant in Penticton, with Saturday marking the first time he will be presenting his food to the community. It’s a project he tried to start in Jordan, but ran into difficulties being a refugee, when it is nearly impossible to get lucrative work.
“Oubyda and his wife are very, very good cooks. He’s going to be offering some of their food specialties. I think that’s exciting for them because they see some potential for the future perhaps,” said Veillette.
It may start with selling their food in Okanagan shops, but the first step in realizing his goal comes on Feb. 25 at the Lakeside Resort with the OneWorld Multicultural Festival.
“You’ll have to go try their food, it’s excellent,” Veillette said. “It’s really unique. It’s something that has never really been seen here a lot. A majority of the public here would not know this food.”
Some of the Middle Eastern cuisine getting offered up includes falafel with garbazo beans, onion, parsley, garlic cumin, coriander and wheat flour; Kibbeh, which has bulghur, lamb, beef or chicken meat filling with onion, spices and salt and pepper and Syrian sweets containing wheat flour, sugar, Ghee butter and pistachio.
Tastes from around the world are on tap for the festival including Thai food from an immigrant from Thailand who has been selling her food at the market since 2015. She is currently working on creating a food truck, obtaining her FoodSafe qualifications through SOICS.
The event features 18 countries represented with 10 food vendors presenting international delicacies, eight cultural information booths, seven merchandise vendors and the sharing of three immigrant success stories, showcasing their contributions to the economy. OneWorld is also inviting event goers to participate in and interactive art project incorporating the Canada 150 celebration with activities for all ages.
Fifty flags are set to be on display at the Lakeside celebrating the diversity and culture brought to our community through immigrants and participants and SOICS clients are set to wear traditional attires.
The OneWorld Penticton Multicultural Festival runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Lakeside Resort. Admission is free.