The saying ‘home for the holidays’ has a very special meaning for a Calgarian and her Syrian husband.
Anya Sass and Habib Alibrahim arrived home in Calgary Saturday after being trapped in Syria for more than a year.
“It’s totally shocking, but we did it,” said Alibrahim, who had been waiting for travel documentation so he could come to Canada.
“It feels a little bit surreal that we’re here,” said Sass, who met Alibrahim three years ago while travelling in Syria and later married in 2012.
READ MORE: UN struggles to move aid into Syria
The couple said living in Syria had become too risky, with ISIS fighters just kilometres away, and the threat of daily bomb attacks.
“This is the thing about Syria, you never know how quickly something is going to escalate,” said Alibrahim. “For example, now it’s fine, maybe tomorrow it will erupt into something else.”
The Canadian government had pledged to speed up applications, because of the ongoing violence, but were told in the summer the process could take until 2016.
After launching a campaign online and with media, an email confirmation finally came earlier this fall.
“I was walking to work when I got the email, and I stopped – I couldn’t breathe and I was crying,” said Sass.
The couple says the Canadian government needs to act faster to help those trying to flee Syria.
READ MORE: Conservatives’ Syria refugee response labelled as ‘discrimination’
Canada has pledged to resettle 1,300 refugees by the end of this year, but that’s been delayed.
“None of them wanted to leave Syria, and some want to go back to Syria,” says Sass. “But they can’t for one reason or another and they’re really suffering.”
Her father Paul says he’s relieved his daughter and son-in-law are now home for the holidays.
“There’s concern as a parent in the unknown, and having been there you know the dangers,” said Paul.
The couple plans to return to university in the new year, but for now, are focusing on settling into their new lives in Canada.
“It’s been a dream for us and now that we are here. It’s kinda unbelievable,” says Alibrahim. “Like seriously, we’re in Canada?”
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