By Calli Forbes
One sunny morning, Mohammed Sunba hopped in a car with me to make the morning commute to the Canadian Red Cross office in Fort McMurray. During our 25-minute drive, Mohammed shared with me his experiences of volunteering with the Red Cross: he started nearly two years ago to support people who have been impacted by personal disasters, such as house fires and floods.
The Alberta fire response is the largest disaster Mohammed has been a part of as a Red Cross volunteer – initially supporting evacuees in Calgary and then on to Fort McMurray in August to support residents as they returned to the community.
“When the fires started, immediately I contacted the Red Cross and I told them I wanted to help,” he says. “It’s a beautiful job to feel that you are supporting people, because the way I see the Red Cross helping Canadians is something that nobody had helped me with.”
Mohammed and his family have lived through their own form of disaster – three decades of war and conflict in their home country of Iraq.
“In my lifetime I have witnessed three wars,” Mohammed says. “To live in a country with a dictatorship you can’t imagine. It’s very hard. Even if you hear millions of stories, you can’t.”
During the most recent war in 2003, he and his family were eventually forced to evacuate from their home, as the district they lived in was being bombed almost on a daily basis.
“When the war finished, we returned back and found nothing – almost two blocks were destroyed,” he recalls. Mohammed and his family made the decision to leave Iraq for the United Arab Emirates in 2004, before eventually settling in Canada in 2012. He says his past experiences in Iraq help him relate to the uncertainty and stress that residents of Wood Buffalo may be experiencing.
“The most important thing is that you have people to support you,” he says. “You have the government to support you; you have the Red Cross to support you.”
Throughout his time in Fort McMurray, Mohammed says he has met many people who show great resiliency as they move forward from the fires.
“I just feel really happy that I am here to help support the Fort McMurray people and also to help Canadians,” he says. “I am proud to be one of them, though I am not a Canadian yet – but in spirit, yes, I am truly Canadian.”
Mohammed Sunba is just one of the more than 2,500 Red Cross personnel who have supported the
Alberta fires response.
For information on volunteer opportunities near you, please visit redcross.ca/volunteer.