By CBC News |
Immigrants and refugees who have called Saskatoon home for years shared their experiences, through poetry, at an event Wednesday.
Seven poets hit the stage at Fédération des francophones de Saskatoon, also known as Le Relais.
By CBC News |
Immigrants and refugees who have called Saskatoon home for years shared their experiences, through poetry, at an event Wednesday.
Seven poets hit the stage at Fédération des francophones de Saskatoon, also known as Le Relais.
The event, which was also a fundraiser for the Saskatoon Refugee Coalition and the International Women of Saskatoon, was aimed at welcoming newly arrived Syrian refugees.
“I see us like a bridge between Saskatoon people,” Ljuban Klobocar, a Serbian from Croatia in the former Yugoslavia, said. “Because some of us experienced the same problems and wars like Syrians.”
Ahmad Majid, with roots from Iraq, said he felt it was important for him to be part of the event.
“If there’s a travesty or something horrible happening in another part of the world and we have the ability to help, why shouldn’t we?” Majid said.
Klobocar recalled his own days during the armed conflict in the former Yugoslavia.
“I became a refugee in my own country,” he said. With a connection to Canada (his mother was born here) his family was able to escape the danger and went to Saskatoon.
“My mother had a sister who helped us all to come here and start a new life,” Klobacar said.