the sweetest welcome


SmYd is a crunchy-on-the- outside, cakey-on-the-inside


dessert based on mshabak, a traditional Syrian treat.


©UNHCR/Michelle Siu


THE SWEETEST WELCOME With their new dessert business, two Syrian refugees send a message of peace and love By Fiona Irvine-Goulet


Imagine you’ve just arrived in a foreign country with almost nothing to your name. You know little about this cold land, but at least you speak the language,


own. You’re educated and ambitious but have no family or friends to guide you. And you need a job—fast.


This was 29-year-old Bahjat Joubi’s dilemma after arriving as a Syrian refugee in Montreal one freezing February day in 2016. So he did what any millennial might do: he Googled “How do you find a job in Canada?” Surprisingly, said Joubi, “All the links I visited stated, ‘To find a good job, start by volunteering.’”


Joubi and fellow Syrian refugee/ childhood friend/now-business partner Adel Sakkal, 29, began volunteering with TCRI (Table de concertation


16 / UNHCR CANADA though it’s not your


des organismes au service des personnes réfugiées et immigrantes), an umbrella community organization dedicated to supporting refugees and immigrants


translated documents Joubi


into French and English for asylum seekers hoping to come to Canada, and


accompanied a TCRI


representative making presentations to Montrealers on how they could sponsor Syrian refugees.


“He accepted me as a person, as a human,” Joubi said. “That gave me the motivation to be a volunteer. We went to schools and universities and I was able to tell Canadians, ‘Please do not judge me just because I’m a refugee. I speak English. I speak French. I go to church. I live my life. I’m just like you. I deserve an opportunity just like


anyone else; I’m not asking for more than anyone else.’”


SmYd is not just a business


in Quebec. They from Arabic


Joubi, who holds a Master of Science degree in management from Leeds University in the UK and co-owned a small hotel with his father in his hometown of Aleppo, Syria, now works in retail as a customer service supervisor for a large chain store.


Sakkal, who arrived in Canada in December of 2015, has a bachelor’s degree in food science from the University of Aleppo, and co-owned a café in Aleppo. He now works for a major coffee chain in Montreal.


While both enjoy their jobs, their passion lies in their dream of creating a successful business,


both their Syrian roots and the warm


inspired by


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