Volunteers from Refugee Advocacy Services share the spirit of Christmas with refugees from Syria and other countries who like the Kattoub family have been resettled in West Hartford and other area towns.

By Ronni Newton

The Kattoub family has been experiencing a lot of “firsts” since arriving in West Hartford in August 2016, and on Thursday they received their first-ever Christmas gifts courtesy of Refugee Advocacy Services and some very generous donors.

Nancy Latif – dressed as Santa – and Sarah Kieffer of Refugee Advocacy Services, along with their “elves” Mohammed Meraay and Ana Leite, brought boxes full of gifts to the Kattoubs on Thursday. Twenty-one other area families, in West Hartford as well as East Hartford, Manchester, Bloomfield, New Britain, and Berlin, are also receiving Christmas gifts this week.

Anas and Arabia Kattoub, and their three children, are Syrian refugees. Their resettlement in West Hartford is being sponsored by a combined effort of St. John’s and St. James’s Episcopal churches, and both churches, as well as the brand new West Hartford-based non-profit Refugee Advocacy Services, are continuing to assist the family in their new life.

Four-year-old Jana Kattoub was home with her parents when the gifts were delivered mid-day Thursday. Her older siblings are in school – in kindergarten and first grade at Whiting Lane Elementary School.

Latif translated as Anas spoke about his new life in West Hartford, and the family’s first Christmas.

As Muslims, the Kattoubs don’t celebrate Christmas, but Latif said that their children now know about it through their friends at school. “We’re trying to give them an idea of what it’s all about … to understand what Christmas is in the sacred sense,” she said. As a gift-giving occasion, Latif drew a parallel to the Muslim holiday of Eid.

In one corner of the Kattoub’s living room, a small Christmas tree sat on an end table. Latif said that the Williamson family, who are parishioners at St. James’s, donated the tree and came over and decorated it.

“We like it very much. West Hartford is treating us well, except that the rental of homes is very high,” Anas said. The two older children are happy in school, he said. Arabia is doing very well learning English, and has even learned to text.

Anas has been working at Savoy, the newly-opened restaurant on LaSalle Road in West Hartford Center that is owned by Max Restaurant Group. He and another Syrian refugee work in the kitchen, doing food preparation and clean up work.

Anas, 40, is trained as a machinist and had more than two decades of experience in Syria rebuilding large engines for Mercedes and GMC trucks. He really likes working at Savoy, and they like him there, but Kieffer said he would eventually like to put his skills to use in a local industry.

“This is what I’m looking for,” Anas said, as he showed a video taken at a place he once worked, and another of a similar operation. “It reminds me of the good old days,” he said, smiling.

Latif and her elves positioned the gifts in front of the fireplace in the Kattoub’s Farmington Avenue apartment. Clothing, toys, items for the house like a mirror and decorative tray, sweets and other food were among the family’s holiday gifts.

Many of the presents were donated by Whiting Lane staff, as well as Tangiers International Market. Latif and her husband founded Tangiers, and it’s now owned by their children.

Gifts to the Kattoubs and the other families were also donated through a network of individuals organized through West Hartford residents Hope Lennartz and Solange Rossignol. Latif said the network of donors was spurred by a conversation Rossignol had with a woman standing behind her in line at Savers in Wethersfield, where she had taken another refugee to shop. The woman told her sister and her friends about the refugees, and soon there was a “Niagara Falls” of donations, Latif said.

The Kattoubs won’t be having a religious celebration of the Christmas holiday, but they will enjoy their gifts as well as some extra family time during the week that that the two older children have a break from school. Anas had a day off work on Thursday, and will also have some time off during the vacation week.

Latif said she believes it’s important to include the refugee families in the culture and society in which they’ve landed, and that includes Christmas.

“The Christmas holiday is so big, and in the spirit of Christmas and the joy of giving, we wanted to share of our own bounty,” Latif said.  Doing so is giving comfort, and also letting the refugees know that there are people here who really care about them.

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