Refugee children who fled violence in Eritrea dance in snow for the 1st time

A woman who is hosting a family of five from one of the most repressive regimes in the world, Eritrea in East Africa, shared a touching video of two of the children experiencing snow for the first time.

For five years, the family — a mother and her four children, ages 7, 5, 3 and 13 months — were living in a refugee camp in Sudan after fleeing the dictatorship of President Isaias Afwerki in Eritrea, where citizens have to serve an undetermined period of “national service” once they turn 18. There, they work 72-hour work weeks, face punishments and rape, and have little food, among other injustices, according to Human Rights Watch.

The family was brought to Canada through the Ripple Refugee Project, and it is currently staying in Toronto with Rebecca Davies, who shared this heartwarming video.

Davies is a spokesperson for the Ripple Refugee Project; the group is composed of private citizens who sponsor, settle, and help integrate people coming to Canada. In Canada, it is legal for private donors to sponsor government-approved refugees.

Just last year, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted in support of refugees, writing “Diversity is our strength,” which may have been a response to President Trump’s travel ban, which targeted mostly Muslim countries.

On Monday, Trudeau retweeted the video of the Eritrean children, dressed in their winter coats, enjoying something he suggested they may soon see as a chore.

The family has been living in Canada for only a week. “I looked up and there were big, fat snowflakes,” Davies told CBC on Monday. “We had talked the day before about weather in Canada. So I called them, and they all ran to the window.”

In the next three years, Canada expects to welcome a million more immigrants to the country.

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