Jim Tallman has volunteered as a settlement mentor for newcomers in the Lower Mainland for more than 20 years and he says spending even four hours a day with a refugee can save them years of confusion in a new country.
An internally displaced girl poses at a makeshift refugee camp in Sinjar town, in Idlib province, Syria November 20, 2015. (Ammar Abdullah/Reuters)
Jim Tallman has volunteered as a settlement mentor for newcomers in the Lower Mainland for more than 20 years and says spending even four hours a day with a refugee can make a real difference in their lives.
The Immigrant Services Society of B.C. has asked the public to volunteer in the effort to resettle the nearly 3,000 refugees due to arrive in the province by year’s end.
Tallman says the society matched him with “one of the last boat people from Vietnam” almost 25 years ago, and asked him to commit to six months of mentoring. The Langley resident says it was an “extremely positive experience” and since then, he’s mentored refugees from Vietnam, Guatemala, Bosnia, Columbia, and Kosovo.
Kilde: Helping Syrian refugees full of rewards says veteran settlement mentor – British Columbia – CBC News
