Hamilton Area News
Posted by Marta Stiteler
HAMILTON CLUBS SUPPORT SYRIAN REFUGEES
The government of Canada has made a commitment to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of February 2016. Over half of this figure will be comprised of children and youth, many who have not been in school for upwards of five years. It is anticipated that Hamilton may have nearly 400 children and youth resettling in our community. As we can assume that the children and youth have not been in school, they will likely be entering school falling well behind their Canadian peers; they will lack social skills and not arrive ready to learn. For many English will not be a second language adding another challenge for learning. Many have or will experience some level of trauma due to the conditions in their homeland and the Children’s development has been impeded by lack of proper nutrition.
Wesley Urban Ministries is the hub for all support provided to the Syrian refuges in Hamilton. The Rotary Clubs in the Hamilton Area have been working with Wesley Urban Ministries to deliver a proactive approach to supporting and successfully integrating children into their new community. More importantly, the service delivery model will assist children in realizing their full potential, including an after school program that will supplement the school learning environment by providing literacy and numeracy learning for school age children. The program will be person-centred and respond to the unique needs of the children. This can include homework assistance, nutritional support, first language instructors and activities that take learning styles into consideration.
Wesley Urban Ministries has been working in close partnership with our schools to provide supports to children in high priority neighbourhoods but more is needed. The provision of after school and summer camp programs levels the playing field for children but also provides them with much needed academic support. Activities will include Reading, ESL, Art, Music, Journaling, Hygiene and Math.
The goal of the program is to increase literacy and numeracy skills of participants as well as increase the number of children feeling engaged and ready to learn. It is hoped that the program will also reduce the number of children feeling homework related anxiety and create an environment where children feel confident about learning and enjoy learning more.
In order to determine the success of this endeavour there will be ongoing monitoring of children registered in the program. In addition, Wesley Urban Ministries will provide a pre and post literacy assessment to determine if literacy levels increased through participation. Staff will document the progress of each student. We will also work closely with the school and parents to gather their input on program success.
The Clubs of the Hamilton Ontario Area, District 7090, are pleased that we can work together for this incredible project. In addition, Rotarians and our two local Rotaract groups have shown a great interest in helping to support this initiative with providing volunteer support for the kids, during the after school programs and during special activities.