BOW VALLEY – The Bow Valley Syrian Refugee Project is scaling the valley for music lovers for an upcoming benefit concert to help raise funds to bring a second Syrian family to the valley.
Featuring a the Orontes Guitar Quartet from Damascus, Syria, the concert next Thursday (May 9) will hopefully provide the project with the last bit of funding needed to bring over Syrian couple, Waill and Dana Tatari.
Debra Hornsby, chair of the Bow Valley Syria Refugee Project, said the Tataris are currently in Malaysia after first fleeing Damascus to Egypt. During the June uprising in Egypt, the couple was forced to flee again.
However, Hornsby said they aren’t exactly safe in Malaysia either because they do not have legal status – a fact they confirmed in a previous interview with the Outlook.
“A refugee in Malaysia is not allowed to work or have any sort of business,” Waill Tatari told the Outlookin February. “[Can’t] own a bank account or owning anything. [Our] hands are tied while resources are limited.”
Waill said coming to Canada would “feel like an orphan who finally has been adopted by a loving mother.”
“They say that Canada is cold, but the people there are all about warmth,” he said.
READ MORE ON THE TATARI'S: Bow Valley expecting second Syrian refugee family
Hornsby said the project has already succeeded in bringing a Syrian family to Canmore through previous funding efforts.
“The first family was a family of six,” she said. “The way sponsorship works is we agree to sponsor them for one year… You give them all the living expenses for one year, so that they have a chance to put their feet down, improve their English, get oriented to Canada without having to worry about making money.”
Here in the Bow Valley, members of the Syrian Refugee Project have worked hard to raise funding needed and the upcoming concert is the last leg of that race.
The main act at the concert will be the Orontes Quartet, a classical guitar ensemble made up of four men; Gaby Al Botros, Orwa Al Sharaa, Nazir Salameh and Mir Mahmoud, who have a story of their own. The group were often targeted in Syria as musicians and, along with their families, were at risk from extremist groups.
“They have this amazing story too about how they fled bombings in Damascus,” Hornsby said.
“They’ve played concerts through bombings where the audience kind of refused to leave and the concert went ahead. Now they’re in Canada and they love it here.”
The Orontes Guitar Quartet are members of the U.S.-based Artist Protection Fund Fellows, and are in Canada due to the travel ban imposed across the southern border.
“I should make clear they are not refugees. They are here on a one-year visa and they are artists in resident at the University of Victoria,” said Hornsby.
The Bow Valley Refugee Project is made up of around 180 community volunteers from the area. The group works closely with Ralph Connor Memorial United Church, the official sponsorship holder.
The May 9 concert will be held in Banff at St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available for $35. You can find more information at www.bowvalleysyria.ca.
– With files from Jenna Dulewich
