 Welcome Home is a refugee housing community based in Kitchener, Ontario. They provide housing for newly arrived refugees, for their first year in Canada. They help them enrol in ESL classes, interact and engage with the community, and advocate for them. Cross-cultural experiences are always a learning experience, I find. The simple act of interacting with people from other cultures causes you to become inventive in communication strategies and influences the possible activities in that situation. I had the opportunity to volunteer with Welcome Home Refugee Housing Community this past summer, and the experience was particularly eye-opening and challenging. During my initial interview and trainings, the Welcome Home supervisor, Sharon Schmidt, recommended that I spend my volunteer hours organizing and running a camping trip for their houseful of 15 refugees. I agreed, as my family and I go camping often, and it seemed relatively simple. However, organizing a trip for a group of refugees was more challenging than expected, as the number of attendees was not finalized until we left and then changed throughout the weekend, fluctuating between 12 and 20! I spent the weekend learning about Colombian, Eritrean, Ethiopian, and Kurdish cultures. For example, one of the Kurdish men told me that a meal is incomplete without flatbread, and he also made tea for us in his samovar. The Ethiopian ladies were lost if we forgot to bring the salt for any of the meals, and the Colombians were the only ones who liked to eat sweet foods. I had a lot of fun canoeing with one of the Kurdish men, and spent some time trying to teach an Ethiopian lady to become comfortable in the water. Interestingly, I found that the most difficult interactions I had were with a fellow Canadian. Of course, the weekend was a long English lesson for the majority of the campers, and also helped to build friendships between housemates. Overall, the weekend, though challenging, was a valuable experience that improved my understanding of and competency in cross-cultural interactions. Welcome Home often has needs that include anything from volunteers to interact with residents, help clean apartments and move residents, assist in excursions, and build their collection of items that help get refugees on their feet. You can contact them here if you’d like to get involved! 
4 Comments
3/3/2013 03:18:55 am
This sounds like such an amazing experience for all parties involved! It sounds like a very neighbourly organization. I understand how hard it is for immigrants when they first land here and I'm sure it is even more difficult for refugees. I'm just wondering about the extent of tailoring of services they do depending on the refugees' cultures? Often people who are far away from the place they grew up in are looking for a piece of home and it can be quite hard to find. Great post! Anna - I agree - homesickness is a big deal, especially for refugees who often love their home country, but for safety, may not ever be able to return there. I do know that Welcome Home does try to find local cultural groups and connections for the refugees that live there. Also, Canada usually accepts refugees from only a few countries each year, so there are often refugees of the same culture living at Welcome Home at the same time. They are also in downtown Kitchener and near quite a few small grocers that carry many cultural food items that the refugees would be missing. MCRS refers a lot of people to Welcome Home and it seems like a great organization! Unfortunately resources are scarce and they only have a small number rooms, not nearly enough to meet the demand. Mary's Place has 60 rooms and is still always packed! I'd be interested in seeing more of these organizations since they are so incredibly useful and needed. Yes, it is unfortunate that there are not more organizations helping in this manner, and that the groups that are present are not extremely large. I hope that as the public continually sees the government reducing aid to refugees, they are moved to action - hopefully action that results in either more groups similar to Welcome Home or an increase in the aid that refugees receive from Canada. Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWelcome! My name is Katiana and I am a development professional pursuing my dream to live out Isaiah 1:17 to the best of my abilities. I am passionate about teaching and working with vulnerable families and children to improve their lives sustainably.
CaveatThis blog is composed of my personal opinions, which do not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of institutions or organizations that I may be or have been affiliated with.
Categories
All
Archives
July 2017
|
