What happens when the place that welcomes you also gives you a way to belong?
When Tareq Hadhad and his family arrived in Canada after being forced to leave Syria, they were rebuilding their lives in a place where almost everything was unfamiliar. But they hadn’t arrived empty-handed. They brought their family traditions, their skills and decades of experience making chocolate.
In this episode of Chocolate and Coffee Break: A Compassionate Proposition, Andrea Putting talks with Tareq about the Syria he remembers beyond the images many of us have seen in the news, what it means to lose the familiar people, places and culture that once gave you a sense of belonging, and the welcome his family eventually received in Nova Scotia.
For the Hadhad family, chocolate became a language people already understood. They began making it in their home kitchen using ice-cube moulds and tubs, then took their creations to local farmers’ markets. People began lining up. Chocolate gave the family a way to share something of themselves while building new relationships within their community.
Tareq and Andrea also explore the assumptions we can carry about people whose culture, religion or background differs from our own, why Tareq believes we need to learn about cultures from the people who have lived them, and what becomes possible when welcome makes room for contribution.
The conversation raises a question that reaches well beyond Tareq’s story. When someone new enters our neighbourhood, workplace or community, we naturally ask what they need. What might change if we also ask what they have brought with them?
About Tareq Hadhad
Tareq Hadhad is the founder and CEO of Peace by Chocolate. His family’s chocolate business began in Damascus, Syria, before their factory was destroyed during the war and the family was forced to leave their home.
After eventually settling in Nova Scotia, Canada, the Hadhad family began making chocolate again in their home kitchen. From those beginnings, Peace by Chocolate has grown into a Canadian chocolate company employing people in their local community and sharing both its products and its message far beyond Nova Scotia.
Tareq also speaks about the family’s wider commitment to contribution through the Peace on Earth Society and partnerships supporting refugees, Indigenous communities, the Canadian Red Cross and other organisations.
Find Tareq Hadhad and Peace by Chocolate:
Website: https://peacebychocolate.ca
Brew the Change
This week, let chocolate be the invitation. Get yourself a good block. Get some Peace by Chocolate if you can. And share it with someone who you do not know well, a neighbour, a colleague or someone new to your community. Don’t make it complicated. Offer the chocolate. Begin a conversation. Give them your attention.
Belonging begins when we take the time to know one another.
Watch the Conversation
Watch The Unexpected Power of Chocolate | Tareq Hadhad:
Pour yourself a cuppa, grab your favourite chocolate and join the conversation.
Let Love Be the Loudest Voice.
