Waleed Alghdyan and Syrian Refugees

refugee camp: They're among the 694 government-sponsored refugees now living in the province, according to CBC. The family is glad to be in Canada and out of the refugee camp in Jordan where they lived for more than two and a half years, and where their youngest son was born. Waleed Alghdyan, a one-time construction worker, came to Nova Scotia with his wife Amnah and their six children on Jan. 19. Syrian refugees flock to Halifax food bank to make ends meet Large size of Syrian refugee families means homes harder to find Alghdyan says his family has received support from the government, the local immigrant settlement organization and neighbours, but the reality has been harsh. "We were expecting something better than this," Alghdyan told CBC News through an interpreter. "Expectations didn't meet reality." The family was given $9,000 to buy furniture to outfit their home and provide them with the essentials needed to cook and look after basic supplies. The eight-member family is living in a three-bedroom house where the rent is $1,100 a month. But after spending $3,000 to make sure everyone had a bed to sleep in, the family put the brakes on further purchases. "If we were to spend all that money on furniture and supplying appliances and stuff for the house, we wouldn't have money to buy food and buy other essentials," Alghdyan said through the interpreter. $1,350 a month Like other government-sponsored refugees with families of a similar size, the Alghdyans gets a monthly living allowance of $1,350. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.