Ottawa Trees: Year I and Fall Colours

ottawa trees: Photo: Pablo Tosco/Oxfam Written by Melanie Gallant, Oxfam Canada Media Officer At this time last year I was visiting informal Syrian refugee settlements in Lebanon Bekaa Valley, according to Huffington Post Canada. Now, as I begin watching beautiful fall colours appear on Ottawa trees, I am reminded that refugees in those settlements will begin worrying about surviving yet another winter in cold makeshift tents. They now live in the Beddawi refugee camp in Tripoli. Although I missed being with my own family for Thanksgiving, I will forever be thankful for the many moments when women who had lost everything shared what little they had with me. I am proud to see Canada leadership in welcoming tens of thousands of Syrian refugees and hope that we inspire other rich nations to open their doors. Little cups of sugary coffee in hand, we sat in circles on tarp floors and they opened up their lives and hearts to me, sharing painful, yet hopeful stories about life as a refugee. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.