Owen Sound’s population will grow by 8 today.
Today is the day when a refugee family from Burma will start calling the scenic city home.
The 8 family members left a refugee camp in Thailand on September 1st and have spent the past two weeks in Kitchener receiving orientation to Canada with the help of interpreters.
Owen Sound Anglican Minister Claire Miller says the Owen Sound and Vicinity Ministerial Association, which includes 38 area churches, is sponsoring the family which includes the mother and father, five children and the grandmother.
Miller says the group already has lined up a home for the family when they arrive which will be a huge change from the one room shack they were living in at the refugee camp.
There were more than 38 thousand other people in that camp as well.
She says the Mother and father had been in the camp for the past 19 years, and all of their children were born there.
Nancy Umbach says she has been to Thailand several times delivering supplies to the camp and unbelievable what the living conditions are like.
She says the mother does speak a bit of English, but the other members of the family don’t so it will be a real challenge for them to adjust to living in Canada.
Unbach says once they are settled its hoped that the people of Owen Sound will do all their can to help the family deal with issues they have never experienced before.
Reverend Miller says they have been preparing for the arrival of this family for the past two years and the Ministerial Group will be responsible for the family for the next year.