Brittani, above, reflects on volunteering as a conversation partner with a Syrian refugee new to Canada
By Brittani Brown, Rx2022 – Conversational English Partner Program at the KW Multicultural Centre
I was extremely anxious starting the program with the KW Multicultural Centre, as I was acutely aware of the imbalance in life situations between myself and my conversation partner. I knew she had fled Syria in 2015 on account of the war and arrived in Canada with her family. On the other hand, I had grown up in the Canadian system practically all my life.
To combat my nerves, I wanted to show up prepared to all meetings with what we were to discuss as well as how I would present my own answers in an acceptable manner. I quickly learned that I wouldn’t connect with my partner this way and it was clear in those first two weeks that our connection felt somewhat forced.
I came to understand that this service was not solely about conversing in English to help my partner improve her conversational ability. Instead, I realized that I also had the opportunity to learn from our interactions and develop a genuine, long-term, and lasting friendship. All I had to do was be willing to open myself up and share honest and vulnerable experiences, rather than reciting pre-written, interview-style scripts. Once I started answering questions openly and honestly about myself, our connection did in fact grow to become a true friendship, which we still have today.
I was so impressed by the level of resilience and determination my conversation partner possessed. When she arrived in Canada, she didn’t speak English. She regretted this fact, wishing that she had more time to learn the language. At the very least, she would have liked to learn English while her life was still intact in Syria, as it would have helped the adjustment both her and her husband had to make upon arriving in Canada.
From her experiences I saw similar challenges faced by my own parents, who were also immigrants to Canada starting over with almost nothing. The level of resilience I noticed from both my parents and my partner’s family is not something that I took lightly. I came to realize that all persons, when faced with this situation – especially if young children are a part of the equation – take any action required to adjust, survive, and thrive to a level they had prior to their destabilizing event.
This was the case for my partner who quickly took up ESL classes and got a job in her community to further learn how to communicate in this new country. Her goal was to also support her family while her husband prepared to take the exams required for international Pharmacists to gain their licensure in Canada. I was able to find once again, a parallel with my own parents – especially my father who had to work in a factory for years before being able to find his way back into his trained profession. I will forever appreciate that he did this to support our family while my mother went through the same process my partner’s husband is now in, to acquire her Pharmacy license as well.
From my time volunteering in the English Conversation Program, I have learned that I genuinely want to make a difference in the lives of newcomers to Canada. As well, I truly want to have an impact on their transition to this new system and culture. It was not that long ago that my family was also in a similar situation, so for me this was something I felt an urgent desire to be a part of.