"What would you do as a family if you have children and they are in danger?" she said, explaining that she encouraged her family to flee as the situation worsened. Eventually, the home of one of her sisters was bombed, further cementing the decision to leave.
Tima's siblings and their families – each with small children – made their way to Turkey, where they hoped to stay temporarily until things in Syria calmed down. But when they got there, they found that the refugee camps were already at maximum capacity, and the family was not able to enter.
Facing the risk of homelessness, Tima's siblings struggled to find work. Tima helped them find housing and began paying their rent. After hearing about their ongoing struggles, she decided to go in person and see if she could help.
But when she arrived in 2014, she was shocked at what she found. "What we see in the news was not what I experienced," she said. "It was worse than I could ever have imagined. I saw my people in the streets, families, they have no home, they were in the park. I talked to them personally, I heard heartbreaking stories."
The experience "changed me a lot," she said, adding that watching children begging for bread shows the inhumane reality of their plight. "It broke my heart to witness it myself."
After returning to Canada, Tima began researching how to sponsor her family to come as refugees, but was unable to do so at that time. So when Germany offered to take in some 1 million migrants in 2015, her brother Abdullah, who was struggling to afford even diapers, decided the best option for his family was to leave, and asked Tima for help.
"Of course you discuss it. It's risky, it's not good, but they have no choice," Tima said. "And that's when they were forced to take that journey."
"I paid for it. I paid for it," she said, wiping tears from her face. "The guilt...that's why I want to keep my voice alive, because that guilt, I will take it to my grave, but I did it with a good intention, because I saw the desperation, I saw my family only eating rice, I saw those children being abused at work rather than being in school, and the world was silent."
'I want the world to wake up'
Even two years later, Tima said it pains her to talk about the experience, "and that's why I want the world to wake up. There is no one who will leave their home and leave everything behind just because they want to take advantage of Europe or the Western world."
She said she rarely watches the news, because she's tired of feeling "hopeless" when she sees the reports and the lack of action.
(Story continues below)
Subscribe to our daily newsletter
Tima said she doesn't like to get into politics, and her family doesn't support either side of the war in Syria, but she does condemn the use and sale of weapons, because ultimately, weapons "are what caused those people to flee their homes, weapons killed their loved one."
Rather than pointing fingers, she wants the world to look at the root cause, because "nobody is talking about it."
She voiced her admiration for Pope Francis, who often speaks out on the same issues, saying "his message and my message are exactly the same thing, from day one. He is my inspiration."
A goal of hers, she said, is to one day visit the Vatican and meet the Pope, to discuss how to promote peace.
In her time as a public speaker and advocate, Tima has been asked to speak at various conferences and universities throughout Canada, the U.S., and Europe. She has also given a TED Talk on her story.
However, her preferred venue is the university, because she wants to educate young people to think about the importance of promoting peace.