Jemy Joseph came from Kerala, a state in South India(WHERETHEY COME FROM). Before coming to Canada she was a while in Kuwait.
By the time she came to Canada, shewas only fourteen years old and now with the age of thirty-one (WHOTHEY ARE). She is now a medicalstudent at the University of Ottawa (WHAT THEY DO). Their familyimmigrated to Canada because they thought that Canada was the “landof milk and honey”, that everything was just “perfect”, but the realitywas not what they have expected as they had heard about Canada from others (WHY).
She faced many challengeswhen she arrived in Canada. It was very difficult for her to adjust atotally different and new culture. Academically, she started at G9, and she wasable to spoke English, but people had difficulty understanding her because ofher thick accent, just as much as she had difficulty in understanding them. Atthe beginning, nothing in the Canadian culture made sense to her. The worstprocess was that there was nobody to explain this to her, she had to rely onherself and adapt to the new culture.
For her parents, it was difficult forthem to find jobs on their professional arenas, so they went back to Kuwait, towork a little bit longer. While she stayed with her aunt in the city, until a coupleof years later, her parents came back to Canada because they could feel bettersettled (WHAT CHALLENGES SHE FACED). She coped with the challenges as it goes long (HOWTHEY COPED WITH THE CHALLENGES). She did not give up on her dreams because sheknew that the main reason that her parents brought her and her brother toCanada was for a better educational opportunity.
She always had that in mind,no matter what struggles she had to face, and she knew she wanted to pursuehigher education no matter what it took. She is really proud about what she isstudying now (HOW THEY FEEL). She wants to make sure that she will not lether parents down because they had sacrificed a lot for her future (WHATATTITUDES THEY HAVE TOWARDS THEIR FUTURE). She thinks that cultural factorsare the productive factors that empowered her to grow up and overcome theobstacles and challenges, she always had in mind that her parents made a hugesacrifice for her education and future. Francisco suggests that for newCanadian immigrants, it is important to have cultural support from otherpeople. However, if we continue relying on our own culture to live in Canada,we won’t be able to rely on our own. We will be stuck in the “bubble”, where wefeel safe, and not trying to step out of that “safety bubble”.
She states it isgood to have a social capital, but sometimes there is a huge fear to integrate,and integrating does not really mean to be giving up your past life for yournew identity and culture value. (WHAT MESSAGES) .”Networking is very bigin Canada”, that is one of the easiest way to socialize with people and get toknow the new country. Seeking people that can give you honest guides andfeedbacks, that is an important part that helps to establish in this new community.Mentors help Jemy in some of the big decisions she had to make in the upcomingyears about residency and employment. She got some optimistic lens even if shedoes not get the results of what she predicted because she knows she had foughthard for what she wanted. In my pinion, Jemy’sstory is an experience for others to learn. One cannot just rely on others tohelp you out of that fear zone, but also one should hard work to step out ofthat fear area.
Michael Cheng came from Hong Kong (WHERE THEY COME FROM). He came to Canada from the age ofseven, and now he is twenty-seven years old (WHO THEY ARE). He is now anentrepreneur with “The Next 36”, it is a development program for youngentrepreneurs (WHAT THEY DO). He immigrated to Canada with his family.His parent thought that Canada will have a better educational system, a betterenvironment for Michael to grow, and also that it will be a land of opportunity(WHY DID HE IMMIGRATED). His parents gave up their career to come to Canada.Unfortunately, they could not get a comparable job in Canada (WHATCHALLENGES DID THEY FACE). In order to help his parents financially, hetried to look up for jobs to contribute to the family (HOW THEY COPED).
He started his business over Vancouver, trying to learn more things indifferent fields after his studies in Simon Fraser University. Finally, helanded on one position, which is the “next 36 program”, which is anentrepreneur development program that’s been funded and supported by Damery, Partisan,and Western family. He feels happy to grow in Canada because he could avoid thepressure that Asian educational system brings to many children (HOW THEYFEEL & WHAT ATTITUDES THEY HAVE). The decision you make upon cominghere is important because some people weren’t able to adapt the new culture andlanguage. To get used to the new culture enclave, reaching out of being proactiveis very important because it helps to integrate much better into the newsociety (WHAT MESSAGES). In my opinion, Michael’s story reminded me ofwhat my father told me. “If you do not learn in the beginning of the threemonths in a new environment, you would not have the patience to learnafterwards”. This is very similar to what Michael mentioned in the interview,if you do not try to learn in the beginning, you will continue in the firststeps.
(MY OPINION) Rawiya Kameir left her home country, Sudan from the ageof four and came over to Canada from the age of seventeen, she is now thirty-year-old(WHO THEY ARE, WHERE THEY COME FROM). She came in 2004 to start herfirst year of university. She immigrated to Canada because her brotherpersuaded her (WHY DID SHE IMMIGRATE). She had no trouble to speak inEnglish because she always been to American and international schools where shehad American and Canadian teachers. Instead, she had problems dealing with her “invisible”stress (WHAT CHALLENGES SHE FACED).
It was rough for her because she wasin denial about the fact that she is having stress about trying to rebuild anew life in a completely new country. She is now a Sudanese Canadian writer (WHATTHEY DO). (HOW SHECOPED?) However, she does nothave a full time job. She is sad about it because she is not in where shethought to be (HOW SHE FEELS).
(WHAT ATTITUDES) She mentions that it is importantto have that “social capital”, it helped her to manage her from meeting newpeople, it is a good way to create a support group. She is hopeful for herfuture, there are a lot to come (WHAT MESSAGES). In my opinion, … Treisy Nivera is originally from Guadalajara, a city inMexico (WHERE THEY COME FROM). She came to Canada as a refugee from theage of eleven (WHO THEY ARE).
She immigrated with her mother to Canadaafter experiencing a lot of danger in Mexico (WHY). Dangers of Mexicoled to the death of Treisy’s father and sister, so her mother decided to cometo Canada and to give a better life to Treisy. They first applied for the US Visa,but it was denied, then they chose to apply for the Canadian Visa. They foundout that they could apply for refugee because they need help from thegovernment. They faced the challenges of leaving their home community to atotally alien environment; they did not know language skills; they did not knowanyone, and the worst process is that her mother needed to take care of Treisyand her sister before her death (WHAT THEY FACED). Through a long and roughprocess, her mother and Treisy finally got a refugee status, she was alsodeported back to Mexico. She says, “Thanks to Francisco Rico-Martinez (FCJRefugee Centre), they helped her mother and her to come back to Canada” (HOWTHEY COPED). Luckily, they are now a permanent resident in Canada.
However,she was denied many times from her job interviews because of the number “nine”in her social insurance number, which means that she is a refugee (WHAT THEYDO). She also mentions that it feels safe to be a permanent residentbecause she does not feel “limbo” anymore, she wants to start building herfuture to her mother and herself (HOW SHE FEELS). Her goal is to go tocollege and become a refugee lawyer, to be able to take care of her mother andto help more people in need (WHAT ATTITUDES). Canada has a lot to offer,but you need to face a lot and be patient in order to get what you want.
Searchfor it, adapt to the new environment, learn the new language, respect theculture, and don’t think that you are the only one facing this challenge,because there are thousands more others just like you that are fighting againstthese challenges (WHAT MESSAGES). (MY OPINION)
