Welcome
to Our New Family!
There is always
great joy at the arrival of a new family to OMRA and this October
was no exception. A young (but not small) family from the Congo
has recently moved in. It is a family of 7: two parents and their
two girls and three boys all between the ages of 10 months and
9 years.
They are very grateful to be living in one of our OMRA houses.
I visited them on their day of their arrival. When I knocked on
the door, Faustin asked me if I could wait a few minutes while
they prayed. I asked if I could join in and we all held hands,
stood in a circle and prayed in both French and Swahili. I know
they were extremely happy to be in the house because I could understand
a few words of thanks that were repeated many times during the
20 minute prayer time. The 5-year old boy had his eyes closed
in great meditation. The baby, however, was less devout and howled
in unison from his mother's back.
I showed them how to use the appliances, but the one they all
wanted a repeat performance on was the vacuum cleaner. Everyone
laughed as they felt the suction on their hands and picked up
some tiny bits of paper. The job was finally entrusted to the
nine year old boy. Hope he still enjoys it as much in 2 months!
Having been warned of the high costs of gas by the Immigration
settlement worker, the family is very anxious not to use too much
heat. I know they took this to heart because when I visited again,
I was met at the door by all of them dressed in their newly acquired
winter coats. I asked if they were going out, but when I got invited
in to tea and we all sat down with our coats on, I realized they
were just conserving energy!
The children are keen to learn and we spent a couple of hours
doing Math and English. They have spent some time in Nairobi and
are quite good in English which will be helpful when they begin
school very soon.
Volunteers are needed to provide friendship, orientation and tutoring
. It is an honor and an education to be part of the settlement
of a new family. If you would like to help, please contact our
volunteer coordinator. This would be a lovely family to adopt
for Christmas.
- Maria Rigby
From
Africa to a Canadian Christmas: Adopt a Family
In the fall of 2002, were we approached about adopting a family
of two parents and 7 children living in an OMRA home for the holidays.
They were so new to Canada that they were not on any of the usual
Christmas basket lists. They likely had little idea about celebrating
a Canadian Christmas and probably did not know what to expect
from a Canadian winter.
Members of the Emmanuel United Church were able to produce handmade
mittens and caps for most of the children, and to provide age
appropriate toys and clothing for the whole family, including
small gifts for the parents. We also collected several cartons
of non-perishable food and donated a gift of a $100 for the purchase
of fresh food. In all, the congregation was amazingly generous.
My husband and I along with Maria sorted, packaged and delivered
the gifts on December 22nd. The delight of the children was obvious.
The children were all able to express their thanks in English,
a credit to their OMRA tutors. I truly hope that we provided a
welcoming face to a new family who must have been feeling somewhat
lost and vulnerable in a strange new country.
- Janice Péron
OMRA once
again has a new family for their first Canadian Christmas this
year. If you, your small group, or your congregation would be
interested in helping bring Christmas to them, please contact
Maria Rigby.
Where
Would We Be Without OMRA's Volunteers?
Maria Gruending
:
When asked what they liked best about Maria tutoring them, the
five children in our first OMRA house could not say enough: "She
helps us so much and it's fun to learn"; "She takes
us to great places like the butterfly show"; "The most
fun thing I like is... I like reading with her"; "I
liked it best when we had a sleepover and I played with Princess
(the dog)"; "I do my homework and get good marks".
From Dahabo, the children's mother, comes an emotional response,
"She helps me and my children too much. Without her, my children
would not do well. She is never late and comes every week. She
is happy and makes my children happy. We will miss her too much."
As Maria Gruending, a graduate from Carleton University's Humanities
program, goes off to Argentina for a year to teach English as
a second language, OMRA would like to thank her for the love and
learning she has given to our family for the past four years.
I had the privilege of tutoring with Maria for some time and each
session would end with songs, games and much laughter. Besides
being an excellent tutor, she gave the children a general knowledge
about life, answering questions which ranged from personal to
social issues. She fits the description of friend, mentor and
Big Sister to this family. Her nickname among the children is
"little Maria", but she has made a "big" and
profound difference to this family.
As a further tribute to Maria's success as a volunteer, the two
teenage girls Maria has worked with during her time as an OMRA
volunteer have volunteered to help tutor the children in OMRA's
newest family and are anxious to start as soon as they move in.
We wish Maria the best of everything as she heads abroad this
year.
To read more
about Maria's experience in her own words, please see below.
José
Masferrer :
José Masferrer is a volunteer who is our "Jack of
all trades and master of them all". He has provided property
inspections on all three houses and then done the repairs. This
includes everything from repairs to washers and dryers to looking
after electrical and plumbing needs to checking the fire alarms
to name just a few. Recently, he and his son, Fabricio, moved
heavy furniture out of one of our houses so the lady cleaning
the unit to prepare for our new family could work the next day.
José, who came from El Salvador many years ago as a refugee
himself, has a marvellous attitude. People helped him when he
needed it, and he will now help those who need him. Hopefully
those people in turn will help others when they can and the cycle
will continue.
Despite his own busy schedule and long work hours, José
has contributed many hours of free and excellent service that
have saved OMRA a lot of time, worry, and money. We thank him
immensely.
Grocery
Card Fundraisers :
As many of you know, part of OMRA's work is to offer rent subsidies
to the families living in our houses. This is needed in order
to lessen the financial burdens on our families as they receive
such a low shelter budget from the government -approximately $650.00
per month to pay rent, heat and hydro. Many families need to use
their entire child tax benefit in order to meet these costs otherwise.
OMRA subsidies are only possible because of the success of our
grocery card fund raiser supported by the congregations of five
Ottawa churches. These churches have supported OMRA for years
and we would like to thank them, and most especially their grocery
card coordinators for their volunteer hours. These include Marg
Eisner and the congregation of First Baptist, Carol Dixon and
the Community of Friends, Irene McCullough and Janice Perron and
Emmanuel United, Maria Rigby and the Ottawa Mennonite Church,
and Matthew Bonsall and Glebe-St. James.
New
Emergency Fund
We are particularly grateful to Matthew and Glebe-St. James whose
commitment of a regular check of $500.00 a month has provided
a reliable source of subsidy income for OMRA for many years.
Recently, Matthew and his congregation donated an additional $3000
to help us set up an emergency food, heat and repair fund to help
families this winter as costs are expected to rise and it is unclear
as to whether our families will receive any government assistance.
We hope to raise more money for this fund over the winter.
A
Facelift Completed
The weekend of Oct. 22 saw the kitchen of the OMRA house on Lassiter
get a new coat of paint. All the cupboards and walls now look
fresh and clean. Dad (John) lent a hand, and the youngsters were
eager to try their hands at brushing on the paint. Little Charles,
aged 6 years, helped take the covers off the electrical outlets,
proud of being able to use a screwdriver. Baby Paul, just 4 months
old, slept through most of the activity.
My
Experience as a Volunteer - by Maria Gruending
I have been volunteering with OMRA for over four years and have
enjoyed my experience immensely.
Upon moving to Ottawa in September 2001, Maria Rigby informed
me that there was a family from Yemen/Somalia who had recently
moved into an OMRA house and needed some help. Dahabo is a single
mother, with five children: Ilham (now 15), Ikram (now 14), Mohammed
(now 12), Faduma (now 10), and Samira (now 7). I began going to
their house once a week to help the kids with homework and reading,
occasionally to help Dahabo with her English and French homework
or figuring out the Canadian bureaucracy, and often for social
events.
Despite the hardships they had faced in the past, Dahabo and the
kids have adapted extraordinarily well to life in Canada. When
they first arrived in March 2001, Mohammed asked his mother why
there was so much white salt (really snow) on the ground in Canada,
but he now loves the winter can often be spotted just sitting
around on a snow bank or playing winter sports with other children
in the neighbourhood. The older girls, Ilham and Ikram, are known
within their school and their community, for their leadership.
Although they did not speak any English when they arrived, they
quickly picked up the basics and made many friends at school (the
majority of children attending their elementary school were recent
immigrants as well). They have both been involved in student council,
several sports teams, and have been recognized by teachers and
administrators for the positive impact they have had on the school.
Having started high school this fall, they are both now interested
in getting involved in the broader community through volunteer
work. They would like to educate people about the experience they
have had as refugees in Canada, as well as work with the children
of a new refugee family that has just moved into an OMRA house
in their neighbourhood.
All five of the children have done very well in English, and the
youngest, Samira, is successfully learning French in her Grade
2 class. Faduma is a very proficient speller who sometimes even
corrects me! Mohammed loves Math and Science class and enjoys
spending time in nearby creeks watching for wildlife. All the
children are doing very well in school, love reading, and plan
to finish high school and go on to post-secondary education. Ikram
in particular is interested in further education; she dreams of
becoming a university professor.
I look forward to my weekly get-together. It is easy to tutor
children who are good-natured and interested in learning. It also
helps that Dahabo puts so much emphasis on learning within the
home. I have learned a lot from the children about attitude: they
take a completely non-competitive approach to learning and school
and they help each other out without exception, as well as their
friends. They also remind me of how thankful I should be for the
country I live in. Dahabo and the girls in particular often talk
about how wonderful it is to have opportunities for education
and careers, and in particular to have the freedom to choose one's
own husband, and choose whether one wants a husband! Dahabo dreams
of becoming a nurse once her children are well on their way in
school.
I feel that my time with this family has been put to good use
(at least that's what they tell me!). My experience as a volunteer
is now coming to an end as I move to Argentina, but I hope to
keep in touch as I can't wait to see where life in Canada takes
them!
Get
Involved! - OMRA'S VOLUNTEER NEEDS
1) Fund Raising:
- Persons
interested in working on a committee to explore new ideas.
- Someone
with knowledge or ideas on how to expand our fund raising. We
would like to get corporations interested.
2) Family
support:
- According
to our grant stipulations, each family is to have a support
group to help them with settlement issues and visit about once
a month. A new family with 5 children between the ages of one
and nine moved into one of our houses on October 20, 2005. They
are in need of this family support.
3) Tutors:
- To replace
Maria Gruending and to help new family.
4) Adopt a
Family for Christmas: See earlier article.
