After months living ‘between life and death,’ Gaza family arrives in Ottawa
After waiting more than half a year for their visa, a family that fled the war in Gaza has finally arrived in Ottawa.
Now nestled in a home in Nepean, Mohammed, 42, and Ghadir Alrayyes, 33, are living with their five children in Mohammed’s sister’s house.
CBC sat down on Friday to speak with the family, who arrived one week earlier. They said their last six months have been filled with terror — and living through that with children as young as three months old, and one who has a disability, was extremely difficult.
As the parents did not speak any English, Mohammed’s niece Lana Alrayyes translated for them.
“At any moment it was between life or death… [at] any moment a bomb could just fall,” she said.
The family had to ration food, water, formula, diapers, and at one point lived in a tent. Sometimes they were getting displaced every five days, she said.
“It was terrifying.”
Palestinians wait to cross into Egypt at the Rafah border crossing on Monday, Oct.16, 2023.
Palestinians wait to cross at the Rafah border crossing last October. The Alrayyes family crossed the border into Egypt in March and spent the next several months waiting in Egypt. (Fatima Shbair/The Associated Press)
Applied for extended family visa
With the help of Mohammed’s sister Ola in Canada, the family applied for the extended family visa program when it was launched in January by the federal government.
The visa allows them to stay in Canada for three years.
In June, Immigration Minister Marc Miller increased the number of available visas from 1,000 to 5,000. But as of that announcement, only 41 people had made it to Canada under the program.
As the Alrayyes family waited to be accepted, they made their way to Cairo in March to escape the horrors.
“The way they left was with all their savings — even what they had wasn’t enough at times,” said Lana.
To cross the Rafah border, Mohammed said it cost $5,000 US for each adult and $2,500 for each child. It was a necessary cost, he added, as there was no milk, diapers, or other crucial resources for their children in Gaza.
One of the greatest challenges was the lack of medical care, he said.
As their eldest daughter has a physical disability, she often had to go to the hospital to get treatment — but their regular hospital was bombed and crumbled to the ground, as were several others.
“She was very close to basically passing, and they didn’t know what to do at that point. Their hands were tied — it was a very tough time,” said Lana.
Lana Alrayyes is the niece of Mohammed, and was the interpreter of the family’s interview with CBC.
Lana Alrayyes, Mohammed’s niece, said the family fled with all their savings — and even then it wasn’t enough at times. (Nick Persaud/CBC)
A ‘huge wish’ came true
When the family found out they were headed to Canada, it was “like a huge wish [had] come true,” Lana said.
Mohammed said since their arrival, their children have been able to sleep through the night, free of fear.
“Since they knew that no more bombs [would fall] in the middle of the night, they didn’t have to wake up every two to three minutes,” said Lana.
Still, challenges persist: the family said they still haven’t been able to get health care for their eldest daughter. While there have been difficulties seeking coverage through the federal program, they’re hoping they can be resolved in the near future.
The hope, Lana said, is that the family’s children will be enrolled in school and that Mohammed will get a work visa so they “can get their life back to normal and start fresh.”
Ola, Mohammed’s sister, said she’s happy she could help them escape from the war, but still thinks about her friends and other family members who are still trying to survive it.
“There are two million people in Gaza. They’re not as lucky as them,” she said.
She said she wants the federal government to do more to bring the war to an end, while also preventing them from losing their life savings as they try to flee.
“It’s not about us. It’s about all the people in Gaza,” she said. “We want to help all of them.”
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