Dossier

Peace by Chocolate: Newcomers’ message | Tareq Hadhad | TEDxDalhousieU

The speaker, a Syrian refugee now in Canada, argues that community support and the relentless pursuit of one's ideas—symbolized by his chocolate business—are the best antidotes to anxiety and despair. He illustrates this by detailing his family's journey from surviving the Syrian crisis to rebuilding a business in Antigonish, demonstrating that being "remarkable" requires speaking one's ideas aloud. He concludes with the message that facing challenges demands choosing between complaining and finding a creative solution.

## Speakers & Context
- Speaker: Syrian refugee who was initially aspiring to be a physician.
- Family background: Started a small chocolate business in Damascus, Syria, in 1986.
- Context of narrative: Describes the family's journey fleeing the Syrian crisis, arriving as refugees, settling in Canada, and rebuilding a successful chocolate company.
- Professional status: Successfully transitioned from a refugee/newcomer to running a growing business.

## Theses & Positions
- The core theme is the power of community embrace: the best method to face anxiety and fear is by offering and embracing community.
- Kindness is reciprocal: "Kindness begets kindness."
- When facing challenges, one has two choices: either sit down and complain, or dig down and find a solution and be creative, with the latter being significantly more effective.
- Entrepreneurship is linked to message-making: the success of the business in Canada was viewed as a message from newcomers to their new community.
- The essence of a fulfilling life requires fighting for one's ideas, as it is the "most noble value in the entire human beings."

## Concepts & Definitions
- **Symbol of the celebration:** Chocolate, used by the speaker's father in 1986.
- **Community embrace:** Presented as the first and best method for combating anxiety and fear.
- **Entrepreneurship:** The activity that allowed the family to pivot from medicine to running a business after arriving in Canada.

## Mechanisms & Processes
- **Family relocation:** Transitioned from an established life in Damascus, Syria, to becoming refugees, then resettling in Lebanon, and finally immigrating to Canada.
- **Business building:** Started with small chocolate pieces at a farmers market, expanded through internal family efforts, and eventually expanded nationally.
- **Community integration:** The settlement in Antigonish, Canada, involved comprehensive support that covered housing, schools, education systems, healthcare, and employment committees for the entire family.
- **Career pivot:** Transitioned from the aspiration of medicine (initially supported by family/culture) to entrepreneurship.

## Timeline & Sequence
- **1986:** Father started the small chocolate business in Damascus after witnessing people's happiness with chocolate.
- **Childhood aspiration:** Speaker was born, and the initial family expectation was for him to become a physician.
- **Pre-Crisis Damascus:** Family lived in one building with relatives, maintaining social life and sharing stories.
- **The Crisis Start:** Father began exporting to neighboring countries (Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey) and hiring workers.
- **Trapped/Forced Leaving:** Family spent five nights in a basement without food, water, or medicine; later, the building was bombed.
- **Refugee Phase:** Forced to leave Syria; eventually reached Lebanon (which received 2 million Syrian refugees, straining infrastructure).
- **Canada Arrival:** Arrived in Canada after a complex journey, culminating in settling in Antigonish.
- **Business Growth:** Chocolate company expanded rapidly, eventually becoming one of the top 15 chocolate companies in Canada by the end of 2016.
- **Later Recognition:** Received calls stating the Prime Minister was speaking about him at a UN summit in New York.

## Named Entities
- **Damascus:** City in Syria, described as having an old city center and deep cultural history.
- **Syria:** Country that was the origin of the family.
- **Lebanon:** Country that received two million Syrian refugees, straining its infrastructure.
- **Iraq, Jordan, Turkey:** Neighboring countries to Syria where the father exported chocolate.
- **Canada:** The destination country, celebrated for welcoming immigrants and celebrating diversity.
- **Antigonish:** Specific location in Canada where the family resettled.
- **Fort McMurray:** Location where the company donated relief efforts to.
- **United Nations:** Location for the UN summit where the Prime Minister spoke about the speaker.

## Numbers & Data
- **1986:** Year father started chocolate business.
- **99%:** Percentage of senior mothers who want their children to be doctors.
- **1%:** Percentage of senior mothers who want their children to be engineers.
- **2 million:** Number of Syrian refugees Lebanon received.
- **35:** Number of employees at the factory in Damascus when the crisis started.
- **23:** Speaker's age when the scholarship/opportunity arose (though the age limit was 22).
- **2005:** Year the speaker was speaking about Canadian diversity.
- **2016:** Year the chocolate company was one of the top 15 in Canada.
- **15:** Rank of the chocolate company by the end of 2016.

## Examples & Cases
- **Chocolate Symbolism:** Chocolate was the symbol of celebration in 1986.
- **Family Housing:** In pre-crisis Damascus, the family lived in one building with relatives.
- **Survival Test:** Spending five nights in a basement without food, water, or medicines during the crisis.
- **Refugee Aid:** Volunteering with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Health Organization to help Syrians in Lebanon.
- **The Canadian Welcome:** The process of being received in Canada, where the family arrived with support for housing, schools, healthcare, and employment committees.
- **Business Pivot:** Starting with small pieces of chocolate at a farmers market, evolving into a large company.

## Tools, Tech & Products
- **Chocolate:** The core product and metaphor for happiness and struggle.
- **Google:** Used by the speaker to check the map for Antigonish.

## References Cited
- None mentioned.

## Trade-offs & Alternatives
- **Medicine vs. Business:** The option to continue pursuing medicine in Canada versus pivoting to building a commercial enterprise.
- **Complaint vs. Solution:** The choice between complaining about hardship or actively seeking and implementing creative solutions.

## Counterarguments & Caveats
- The initial difficulty in settling in Canada, exemplified by the confusion regarding the destination city (Halifax vs. Antigonish) and the initial period of culture shock.
- The fact that the success story is built on external support: the organization of the settlement in Antigonish, which is emphasized repeatedly.

## Methodology
- **Storytelling/Narrative:** Using personal trauma and subsequent recovery to construct a message about human resilience.
- **Entrepreneurial Model:** Developing a business built around a core product (chocolate) and a guiding principle ("piece by piece").

## Conclusions & Recommendations
- The most effective response to anxiety and fear is active community support and embrace.
- The key principle for life's challenges is to reject complaining and instead, be creative and find a solution.
- The concept of "being remarkable" requires one to actively speak out about their ideas to draw others in.

## Implications & Consequences
- The ability of human community to rebuild successful structures (economic, social) even after total loss of homeland and status.
- The idea that human connection and supportive infrastructure are as critical to survival as food or medicine.

## Verbatim Moments
- *"If I ask you now who would be happy when they eat chocolate please raise your hand the second question is tossing them who would be emotionally neutral when he is chocolate please raise your hand"*
- *"Syria is the city is the country where the cities have impacts and achievements in the entire humanity history the most old cultural region in the Middle East and maybe the entire world"*
- *"it's not time to do medicine for me it's time to survive for the entire family"*
- *"I said I'm not a number I'm a human being"*
- *"I told him there should be some Canadians there"*
- *"this is time for us to start giving back to the community"*
- *"The first is being unique and equal being different than the others being remarkable"*
- *"the second thing is you should go out you should speak out about your ideas"*
- *"The first option is to sit down and complain and I say I can do anything I can do that and the second option is to dig down and find solution and be creative and the second one works way more better trust me"*