By Shauna Rempel
On a blustery late winter morning, several dozen students gather in a cramped but cheerful series of classrooms tucked in between the Island Jerk West Indian Restaurant and the Beirut Food Centre. The students, most of them women, have come to this busy Bank Street strip mall to learn English.
“We teach that people can become as independent as possible, so we teach banking, housing, health care, Canadian culture and of course employment,” says Margaret Banaszkiewicz, who oversees three English as a second language schools as part of the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada, or LINC, program.
Banaszkiewicz says the Bank Street school, which is celebrating its first anniversary this month, is a safe haven for women who may feel isolated or lonely when arriving in Canada.
Centretown News spoke with four women learning English as a second language to see what they thought of their new home.
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Elizabeth Ovalle, 53, is a retired office manager from Bogota, Columbia. She moved to Ottawa last August with her husband to be closer to their three grown sons, who have found work in Canada.
“I don’t know many people now, but I think they are very kind,” Ovalle says of people in Ottawa. However, she says the carefree attitude of her homeland isn’t shared by most Canadians. “We enjoy our life more there,” she says. “Peoples in Canada are very strict…serious.”
Ovalle likes the space and safety of Ottawa after living in Bogota, a city of eight million.
“(In Bogota) you can see many, many houses all together and the traffic is difficult,” she says.
In May, Ovalle will become a grandmother when her Canadian daughter-in-law has a baby. She says the newest addition to the family will have a good life here.
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Azhar Abdulamir, 41, is from Baghdad and has a six-year-old daughter and a seven-year-old son. She moved here from Iraq five years ago to be with her new husband. However, her marriage soon broke down. Abdulamir was left to care for her children alone while her husband remarried in Iraq.
“After that, I stay here because everything is gone — my husband, my job, my apartment when I leave (Iraq) with him.”
Abdulamir had registered for English lessons in the past, but found it too difficult to attend school while raising two small children.
Now that her children are in school, Abdulamir has time to learn English and eventually she wants to work as a secretary.
Abdulamir is happy with the progress she’s made learning English, like graduating from the beginner class after just afew months.
But the smile vanishes as she discusses the ongoing violence in Baghdad, where her sister still lives.
Abdulamir says everyone is essentially the same the world over.
“Here, Canadian — people. In Iraq — people. Pakistan, Afghanistan and all over — people. I hope everyone in all the world, they have a good life. I hope for the peace.”
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Shobha Nath is a 32-year-old from India’s Bihar state. She and her two boys, aged six and nine, moved here in summer 2004 to join Nath’s husband.
Nath barely knew any English before arriving in Canada.
“I used to know in my country little words, like ‘thank you, hi, how are you,’ like that,” says Nath. “Now when someone asks me a question I know to answer.”
Nath says she loves Canada, but is frustrated that her husband, a geologist by training, can’t find work in his field. Nath’s husband occasionally works at a tax assessment company, but the family is currently on welfare.
Status of Women Canada estimated that in 2000 about 27 per cent of immigrant women lived in low-income situations. With two young children, Nath says it’s important for her and her husband to find work.
Although Nath studied psychology in India, she is considering working in a restaurant. “Cooking is not my profession but I like to cook,” she says.
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Eman Areed moved from Jordan last February to build a better life for her four children. Born in Kuwait, Areed remembers how nervous she felt about moving to Jordan to attend university.
“It’s the same feeling, moving to Canada,” she says. “New culture, new traditions.”
A former high school math teacher, Areed hopes to start teaching at a Muslim school soon. Even with a degree from a Jordanian university and 14 years of experience, her teaching qualifications aren’t accepted by the public and Catholic school boards.
Areed is not alone. Many immigrant women find their qualifications and past experience aren’t recognized in Canada and must start from scratch, according to the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women.Work troubles aside, Areed says Canada is living up to her expectations.
“There is safety and a good future for our children,” she says. “I like everything in Canada, except the weather is too cold.”