Wasim Al Nassan came to Merritt in March with a dream.
He was selected for British Columbia’s PNP entrepreneurship pilot program, and left his family in Saudi Arabia to start life in Merritt before bringing them over.
As one can imagine, March turned out to be an unlucky time to begin a new life.
His meeting was cancelled. Flights back to his family in Saudi Arabia were cancelled.
Al Nassan has now been left in limbo, with his working visa having expired in Saudi Arabia.
Time is running out, as his family’s ID’s expire in Saudi Arabia at the end of December, having originally been from Syria: a regime that Al Nassan is highly against.
“I feel myself that I am stuck,” said Al Nassan. “There is no way to get back home. And there is nothing to do, just to try to find the solution.”
After one month of living in a hotel, Al Nassan said that he began to go stir crazy.
“Just four walls, with nothing to do. You don’t know anybody. It’s hard for you to stay in this situation.”
It was then that he went looking for a volunteer position within the city: nothing that needed any income, just to, as he put it, “move his body.”
That was when he landed at the food bank.
Since then, he has been a staple of the program. In late September, he was honoured as the food bank’s Volunteer of the Year.
Meanwhile, Al Nassan has been constantly working to once again be approved for the PNP project, so that he and his family can officially start their life in Merritt.
He eventually got his “score” back from the program: he was deemed under what the mark is to be approved for the project, even though he was applying to start a trucking company within the city.
Al Nassan said the criteria includes how many jobs are created.
“To give the service of transportation for retailers. The location of Merritt is perfect for it. It is between three highways, and I’ve gotten big support for the idea.”
He said as a long-term goal, his planned company could work as a distribution centre.
“Merritt could be a hub for companies.”
Now with his Saudi Arabian working visa expired, Al Nassan does not know the next time he will see his wife, three daughters, and son. They have nothing to do but to wait for Al Nassan to either come back to them or bring them to Merritt.
“If I get the work permit, I can bring my family. It’s a limbo. There is no time period.”
Al Nassan said that the stress continues to build, with his family’s Saudi Arabian ID’s expiring at the end of December. There is no way that he can go back to Syria under the current regime, so his family would have to find another country to live in by then.
“The system in (Saudi Arabia)…I’m the sponsor for my family. And I am the full sponsor for them for everything. So if my ID expires, their ID expires. So if I am out of Saudi Arabia for all this long time, and I’m stuck by COVID, I’m blocked in the system.”
As for now, Al Nassan, and his family, wait and hope for acceptance into the PNP program. In the meantime, he puts long hours into volunteering for the food bank, something Manager Derlanda Hewton is very grateful for.
“They are kind and giving and they don’t deserve to be without a country that they call home,” said Hewton.
