A Lachine bread factory and the Dorval mosque have teamed up to make the lives of some Syrian refugees easier.
The mosque worked hard to bring refugees to Quebec late last year, and now several have found work at the factory making Amoun Foods products.
Mohammad Shaban is one of those refugees. He has gone from counting the dough to making it.
“I was working in auditing. I am a chartered accountant,” said the 26-year-old who, along with his parents, two sisters and a brother fled the fighting in Syria last year.
“It's dangerous right now. Even in Damascus – I came from Damascus – but even in Damascus it's not safe. So, I came here to the safer place,” he said.
The Dorval mosque worked for two years to sponsor seven families and is expecting four more to arrive.
“We find them jobs first of all and close to the job we find an apartment, then we furnish the apartment,” said the mosque’s president Mehmet Deger.
The mosque also helps get the children registered for school.
“It's like coming from hell to paradise for them,” he said.
Working with Amoun Foods in Lachine, the mosque also helped ten refugees find jobs.
“They're great people, very humble and just looking to work and do a great job and help their families and grow their career, really. So, they've been great employees in our company,” said Mohsen Youssef, president of Amoun Foods.
Youssef said it's part of being a good corporate citizen.
“It's one way to give back to the community, especially giving someone employment, having the ability to do so, it’s a great thing to do,” he said.
The bread factory has only been open for a month, but business is growing and as it does, so too does the need for more workers: The company's success goes hand in hand with the refugees' success.
For refugees like Shaban, it is a chance at a new life far from war.
“I want to stay here because to make a good living and maybe we find a new home,” he said.
