Elementary students welcoming Afghan refugees through donations

Gym class is on pause at Lynnwood Elementary School in Edmonton. The lesson instead is on humanitarianism

Students collected donations to help Afghan refugees new to the neighbourhood, as the school is set to host a dozen new students this month.

“We said, what can we do to help? And they said, we really need a little bit of everything,” said teacher Sally McIntosh.

Toys, furniture and more were all collected in just one week. For Khatara Begzad, it’s more than just clothing for her growing toddler.

Khatara Begzad smiles as she listens to a translator share her words with reporters (Photo: CityNews)

After months of uncertainty and fleeing her home country last summer when the Taliban took over and living in a Pakistan refugee camp before coming to Canada, it’s about feeling welcomed.

“The community that you are joining, they could love you, they could understand you, they could listen to you, even if they are not speaking your language, even if they are not speaking at all with you, but the way they are behaving with you,” explained Begzad through an interpreter.

Of the 170 Afghan refugees who arrived in Edmonton in January, many are human rights workers. There are currently 16 families living in the Lynnwood neighbourhood.

Donations at Lynnwood school. (Photo: CityNews)

Full gym at Lynnwood Elementary (Photo: CityNews)

“It kinda gives us the feeling, that we can almost forget what happened to us last August,” said refugee Ashraf Amiri.

For students, it’s a chance to see their impact, says McIntosh.

“What we can do as educators, is help this understand how this little microcosm of a community is exactly what the world is, but it’s the part we can control.”

Canada has pledged to accept 40,000 afghan refugees. So far, it has welcomed 11,000.