Enjoying a delicious feast could save a little boy鈥檚 life.

Four-year-old Jwan is the youngest of Ameen Shekhmous and Salam Kefo鈥檚 three children. The family of five Kurdish refugees is living in the northern Iraq town of Erbil.

Jwan has a congenital condition that requires surgery within the next three or four years to prevent the development of significant cancer and inadequate development at puberty, says Dr. Brian Ayotte.

But, because the family, who risked their lives escaping from Syria, do not have Iraqi citizenship, they have no access to medical coverage or education. The family鈥檚 savings were spent on securing a CT scan for Jwan, which identified the serious condition. And the head of one of the surgical specialties at Children鈥檚 Hospital in Vancouver has agreed to perform the necessary operation.

A total of $45,000 must be available to support the family for a year in order to get federal government support to bring the family to Salmon Arm. Members of the Shekhmous family in Vancouver have raised $12,000 on their own and the local community has contributed $18,000.

In order to help raise the remaining $15,000, a Syrian feast will be held in St. Joseph鈥檚 Church hall on Saturday, Oct. 26.

Kurdish Syrians Gulistan Abdo and her husband Lokman Mustafa arrived in Salmon Arm in 2016 and are good friends with the Vancouver branch of the Shekhmous family. After more than two years of failed attempts to get sponsorship for the family, the Salmon Arm couple approached Ayotte.

Failing to find church support in the Lower Mainland through his contacts, the retired cardiologist turned to the local community. 

The new Shuswap Community Coalition is comprised of a representative from St. Joseph鈥檚, St. John鈥檚 Anglican Church, Deo Lutheran Church and Shuswap Community Church.

Food for the Oct. 26 Syrian feast will be provided by Gullistan Abdo and her all-women team of cooks, and Lokman Mustafa will perform Syrian music on a bazuk, a traditional Syrian instrument. 

Doors at the entrance on St. Joseph鈥檚 First Street parking lot open at 6:15 p.m. Tickets are $65 and receipts will be given for donations above the ticket price. Organizers are hoping to secure a Skype link with the family in Iraq as they did during a 鈥淲alk in Our Shoes鈥� event in June.

Tickets are available at St. Joseph鈥檚 Church office from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays.