Syrian tradesmen ready to hit job sites in Saint John

Holding a cordless drill/driver over his head, Mohammad Alkhoraki puts long screws into a line of two-by-four uprights on a garden shed under construction in the shop at Saint John's Habitat for Humanity ReStore.

"Now I feel I am able to work either in carpentry or in my original field, plumbing," said Alkhoraki.

"I have more options in terms of work opportunities in Canada."

The slim Syrian arrived in Saint John as a refugee two years ago and spent his Fridays this past winter learning the terminology of Canadian carpentry.

He unlocked puzzles like the imperial system for measuring, the unfamiliar building materials, the English terminology and deeper mysteries, like why a two-by-four is not actually two inches by four inches.

He works alongside Amer Al Asali, a father of four and a former carpenter in Damascas, the Syrian capital.

"It's very, very helpful," said Al Aseli. "I wish that [we had this experience] much earlier, when we first moved here two years ago."

The two men are among 12 former refugees, all with building trade experience in their homeland, who will help build homes for Habitat for Humanity this summer.

'It's been going very well'

They work under the guidance of Hayward Harrison, Habitat's construction manager in Saint John.

One, and at times two, translators were involved in the early going, but he now gives many of his instructions in English.

"It's been going very well," said Harrison. "They're coming along gung-ho."

He said the trades these men picked up earlier in their lives will serve them well once they gain some experience on local job sites.

"Mason, crack filler, painter yeah, they all have [those skills]," he said. "Bricklayers, they just fly by that stuff. But when it comes to wood, it's a different nature to them."

Samah El Maghlawy is the co-ordinator for the Syrian Project at the Saint John Newcomers Centre. As a former board member with Habitat for Humanity, it was her idea to bring the Syrians into the shop.

It's very fulfilling to try and bring people along and show them the trade.- Hayward Harrison of Habitat for Humanity

She called it a "trade language crash course."

"So they get all the vocabulary that will be used in this particular job," said El Maghlawy. "This will integrate them much faster."

The next step will be to tailor training sessions toward individual trades.

"If they are employed in a roofing company, for example, we will provide them with the technical sessions to introduce them to how this is done in Canada," said El Maghlawy.

Next step will be work on a six-bedroom Habitat home going up in west Saint John this summer.

Harrison is anxious to get them going on it.

"It's exciting, actually. It's very fulfilling to try and bring people along and show them the trade."