Our Stories
My personal story about the idea and how I started this cause the first time I went to Africa.
This foundation emerged from a growing awareness that anyone who can do anything must do something to end the racist, colonial, and patriarchal paradigm in which we are immersed by modelling and growing equality, by supporting those who are marginalized and oppressed as they seek and open new pathways, by co-creating new opportunities, by investing in the visions of women whose lives have been traumatically interrupted, and by providing a space where women make the decisions for outcomes that will directly affect them. Standing in a slave castle in the women’s holding rooms on Isle de Goree off the west coast of Senegal; meeting young women and children at the Buduburam refugee camp in Ghana,
Some who remembered the trauma of the Liberian civil war, others who were born at the camp; meeting the women in the village of sand whose children played soccer on the abandoned runway, allowed me a tiny glimpse of the lived experience of thousands of displaced women. I merely need to look outside my own home to witness the legacy of the displacement of thousands of First Nations women by the colonial settlers’ enterprise in Canada. This foundation serves as a starting space for the conversation between First Nations women, Refugee-Immigrant women, and Canadian born women, engaged and listening.
“Canada is the host and I am the guest. Sometimes I feel like an unwelcome stranger.”
“We do not feel like we are a part of Canada’s story.”
“Talking, working together with other refugee-immigrant women, it felt like we were in the same situation. It felt comfortable to talk and to be together. We were the same; we want the same things for our children, for our families, ourselves. Because of the work of our group we were introduced to the public as women, as people, not as clients. I feel like if we want something, if we want anything, we can do it. We feel we can do these things now. All the time, it was my wish to do something for the others, and we did it. I cannot find the words. I feel my confidence is so big. I feel like I am better prepared to help other people. I feel like I can do it now. I have a job now, my children are in school, we have each other, we do not feel alone. I feel hopeful. I am smiling. I am laughing. I still am worried about my family, but I am smiling.”
Read more stories on our blog
Lavender’s Story
Names changed to protect privacy February 25, 2019 When I was an infant, I lost my father. My...
