Q: So to start with can you tell me a bit
about the ACSSU?
A: So the ACSSU
student union it's a non-profit
organization registered in Canada
and it's situated at about five
different campuses. We have
chapters at Mcmaster, Brock, Western, York,
U of T,
and so basically we give a voice to
Syrian students
across the the nation and we raise
awareness about the
Syrian heritage as well as promoting
higher education like amongst our
members,
as well as awareness about human rights
issues such as like what the event is
being held right now.
Q: And can you tell me about the event that
you're holding on campus?
A: It's called the life of a Mesopotamian
refugee.
We choose the word Mesopotamia because
it encompasses the native people that
are
to Iraq and Syria and Turkey and Iran.
Assyrians are spread
across all of these countries and so the
whole purpose
is to raise awareness about what's
currently going on in
Iraq and Syria especially towards
minorities which is why we have this
symbol of a nune. This was
placed on the houses of people that are
that were christians
during the ISIS invasion in 2014 so
giving
us this whole title of Mesopotamian and
students sleep outside in a tent
in an effort to raise awareness and
emulate the life of a refugee by not
eating
or drinking unless given by donation.
Sleeping outside in the cold
and standing pretty much on their feet
all day long trying to gather
like funds and collect donations to send
back to the displaced peoples.
Q: And how would you say this experience
has helped you to better understand how
refugees live?
A: This experience has shown me that
you will face rejection. You will face
positive
interactions with people. However you
should not be discouraged but the
rejection kind of reminded me of
the neglect the negligence that the
entire international community is
putting towards these minority groups
and so I got to feel that a little bit
as well as the cold condition.
Not being able to go home, not
showering, not eating, or drinking unless
given by donations. So those are a little
bit.
Q: And where do your funds go? A: The funds
will be
given to an agency called the Catholic
Near East Welfare Association.
This organization is a charitable
organization registered in the
Government of Canada
that operates in the Middle East.
Primarily given
projects to, to support minority groups.
However they help all people in terms of
their psychological needs,
their you know medical needs, if they
need any,
food or water, rebuilding
churches. Things like that this is what
the organization does and that's where
the funds will be given.
Q: So why did you choose this charity
specifically? A: So this charity -
for us we are majority
Assyrians and we have a lot of family
that are in the
in these areas that are Christians and
they directly support Christians. So this
is why
we have chosen this charity. However they
do support
all like, anybody of any faith. However we
just know that you know through this
charity that our people will also get
the
help. Q: And what have you accomplished so
far?
A: So far we have, I mean in terms of funds, I
can't give you a guaranteed number.
I want to say somewhere close to like
eight thousand dollars,
through like online and both on Mcmaster
and York or sorry, Ryerson campuses.
But we have gotten the word out and
that's what's most important is
to let people know that in these past
few years since ISIS has come around
there have been many many lives that
have been affected directly and
they those people don't want to flee.
These are people that want to remain in
the homeland because they want to
maintain their history and it's
now being rebuilt. You know Iraqi
forces and as well as other militias
have
tried to regain those cities that were
taken over
and demolished. So a lot of things
are being restored in this process so
getting
people to be aware of this is very
important. Q: So what is your fundraising
goal?
A: Our goal is thirty thousand dollars.
However you know in the past it's just
because we've constantly every year
gone up in terms of our funds collected.
So we last year,
raised twenty eight thousand and four
hundred fifty dollars. We figured that we
would just shoot higher
so we're aiming for thirty. However
you know so far it's been really great. I
know that the Canadian community has
been overwhelmed with
the refugee sort of intake here
so a lot of people have already donated
in terms of that. So
whatever we get is great. I mean just
raising awareness is also a big goal of
ours.
Q: And how can people help support your
cause? A: So people can support it
by obviously donating. However also just
letting people know about
who we are. There are minorities
people don't even think that there are
Christians in Iraq and Syria.
So this is something that we'd like
to just educate the community about.
Q: Okay, well thank you so much for your
time.