The phrase “first snowfall” usually incites groans in Canada, but video of two children, new refugees to this country, delightfully dancing and playing as flurries fall has many people expressing glee.
The video, which has since gone viral, was posted to both Twitter and Facebook by the family’s sponsor.
In the video, the children are seen jumping around in a backyard as snow falls from the sky. They are both wearing boots and winter jackets.
The children laugh, twirl and jump around. About halfway through the video, one of the kids stops jumping around and rubs snow off the other’s head before they run around trying to catch snowflakes in their hands.
The children, ages seven and five, can be heard squealing and giggling in the video.
A photo posted to Twitter later that day showed the kids hunched over a snow-covered bench, with a caption suggesting they were chomping it down.
Yeah they are! pic.twitter.com/LjcrwTt1PN
— Rebecca Davies (@RebsD) November 12, 2018
As of 2 p.m., the video has received more than 100,000 likes and more than 18,000 retweets on Twitter. Many respondents want more updates from the family and are asking for photographs of their first snowball fight, their first snowman, and their first warm maple syrup tasting.
I hate snow. This makes me want to rethink my stance. Lovely. Xoxo
— Keep Going (@jmomom1) November 12, 2018
Delightful! I remember a 6-yr. old girl from Barbados, her first winter. Late 1 afternoon, she called out, “Dey teefed (thieved) it!” She had made her first snowball. I asked where she had put it. “In my pocket!” she wailed. She didn’t understand why her coat was wet. ❄️
— Claire (@JemmsCee2) November 12, 2018
The children, their two siblings and their mother are refugees from Eritrea in Africa and recent arrivals in Toronto, according to Rebecca Davies, the family’s sponsor.
Davies said that she was “puttering” around her house late Saturday morning when she noticed the weather change outside.
“I looked out the window and saw the big, white fluffy snow, like that first snow of the season that however old you are, you get excited about,” Davies said. “I just yelled for everybody to come.”
Davies said that the two older children left the room and returned with boots and winter jackets, tearing through the patio door to get outside.
“It was magic,” Davies said.
The family of five is living temporarily with Davies until they can get a place of their own.
Davies works with Ripple Refugee Project, a Toronto-based private citizens group that sponsors and helps settle newcomers to Canada. She said she is not sure what compelled her to record the children’s first snowy experience.
“I want the world to see the joy of a child of course,” she said. “I also want the world to see newcomers in this joyful light as well.”
