Refugee stories
We hope to publish stories of former refugees who have found belonging in Nova Scotia, and have made the province their new home.
Are you a former refugee who has settled in HRM? If you (or someone you know) are interested in sharing your story on this website to encourage more refugee sponsorships, please contact us! In the mean time, you can read stories of former refugees living in Halifax on the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia (ISANS) website, as well as the stories and examples described below.
Are you a former refugee who has settled in HRM? If you (or someone you know) are interested in sharing your story on this website to encourage more refugee sponsorships, please contact us! In the mean time, you can read stories of former refugees living in Halifax on the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia (ISANS) website, as well as the stories and examples described below.
Arta Rexhepi and her family fled Kosovo in 1999 when she was 13 years old. Rexhepi and her family were airlifted by the Canadian government to Halifax, Nova Scotia. She has made Nova Scotia her home, along with the rest of her family and her two children who were born here.
Here is an excerpt from her story featured in CBC News (May 15th, 2014):
...More than 15 hours of travelling later, we landed in Nova Scotia late in the evening. We were greeted by Red Cross Volunteers, teddy bears, reporters and officials. I was exhausted. I didn't want to go through all the blood tests, fingerprints and long lineups. I remember my first breakfast though, it was amazing. It was just like home. Finally some food that wasn't canned. Shortly after arriving, we were then transferred to the Military base in Windsor Park in west end Halifax...
We really were very welcomed. We felt a sense of belonging, and we could relate to other people from Kosovo with whom we would exchange our stories. We met many amazing Canadians during that time, including the Red cross volunteers who always had a smile on, military personnel, doctors, the Jubilee group who assisted us for a couple of years into settling in Nova Scotia.
We also met some great reporters like Rob Gordon who, after he did a story on my family, decided to invite us to his house for a BBQ. It may have been just a simple BBQ, but what Rob Gordon did for us was life changing. He gave us a feeling of home again, after being homeless...
I've had many great opportunities in Canada, like getting the opportunity to intern at CBC. They've been extremely supportive of my learning. I'm also very grateful to NSCC and my instructors, who have been great mentors, really pushing me towards my journalism dream.
Since my family came to Canada all those years ago, they have also had many opportunities. My dad Zeqirja has his work displayed on murals all over the Halifax Regional Municipality — making HRM prettier, I think. My sister Tringa has shared her talent in musical theatre and she recently joined Shakespeare by the Sea for this summer's productions. My brothers are involved in art design. However, my oldest sisters, Ema and Yllka, and my mom have taken a different route. Both of my sister's are laboratory technicians. My mom Bea, a former actress in Kosovo, has a hair shop on Windsor Street.
...I'm happy I've been able to come to this amazing country, even though I wasn't happy at the time. It's happy because the war ended, happy because we got a second chance at life. (read the full story here)
Here is an excerpt from her story featured in CBC News (May 15th, 2014):
...More than 15 hours of travelling later, we landed in Nova Scotia late in the evening. We were greeted by Red Cross Volunteers, teddy bears, reporters and officials. I was exhausted. I didn't want to go through all the blood tests, fingerprints and long lineups. I remember my first breakfast though, it was amazing. It was just like home. Finally some food that wasn't canned. Shortly after arriving, we were then transferred to the Military base in Windsor Park in west end Halifax...
We really were very welcomed. We felt a sense of belonging, and we could relate to other people from Kosovo with whom we would exchange our stories. We met many amazing Canadians during that time, including the Red cross volunteers who always had a smile on, military personnel, doctors, the Jubilee group who assisted us for a couple of years into settling in Nova Scotia.
We also met some great reporters like Rob Gordon who, after he did a story on my family, decided to invite us to his house for a BBQ. It may have been just a simple BBQ, but what Rob Gordon did for us was life changing. He gave us a feeling of home again, after being homeless...
I've had many great opportunities in Canada, like getting the opportunity to intern at CBC. They've been extremely supportive of my learning. I'm also very grateful to NSCC and my instructors, who have been great mentors, really pushing me towards my journalism dream.
Since my family came to Canada all those years ago, they have also had many opportunities. My dad Zeqirja has his work displayed on murals all over the Halifax Regional Municipality — making HRM prettier, I think. My sister Tringa has shared her talent in musical theatre and she recently joined Shakespeare by the Sea for this summer's productions. My brothers are involved in art design. However, my oldest sisters, Ema and Yllka, and my mom have taken a different route. Both of my sister's are laboratory technicians. My mom Bea, a former actress in Kosovo, has a hair shop on Windsor Street.
...I'm happy I've been able to come to this amazing country, even though I wasn't happy at the time. It's happy because the war ended, happy because we got a second chance at life. (read the full story here)
In an article published August 25th 2014, CBC News reported on how former refugee families were growing their own food in a community garden in Clayton Park, Halifax. The gardening project has been so popular that the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia (ISANS) has created three more community gardens in the area.
The excerpt below illustrates how former refugees have been cultivating a sense of belonging in Halifax, through gardening:
The excerpt below illustrates how former refugees have been cultivating a sense of belonging in Halifax, through gardening:
Refugees accustomed to growing their own food in their home countries are finding garden space in their newly adopted Halifax neighbourhood... |
The community gardeners participated in a 2014/2015 project facilitated by both ISANS and the Ecology Action Centre, that utilized photovoice methodology. On March 27, 2015 they held a gala to celebrate the participants and filmed this short video of the celebrations that captures some of the participants' stories:
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The 'Photovoice in the Garden' presentation document that features the stories of the gardeners, can be downloaded from the Ecology Action Centre website (PDF).
Wondering about Canada's history of welcoming refugees? Check out this beautiful website for more information - When the Refugees Came: Snapshots from five compassionate moments in Canada's history. This website provides "a reminder of what was — and still is — possible with enough political will and civil society mobilization."
Wondering about Canada's history of welcoming refugees? Check out this beautiful website for more information - When the Refugees Came: Snapshots from five compassionate moments in Canada's history. This website provides "a reminder of what was — and still is — possible with enough political will and civil society mobilization."
We have also featured several stories of refugees who are overseas (see below), who are seeking safety, belonging, and a new life. We encourage you to seek out personal stories of refugee families in the midst of the crisis. There are millions of refugees in the world right now, and every single one of them has a unique story. For example, Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York fame, profiled a number of refugee stories during his 2015 trip to the Middle East and Europe, and the UNHCR maintains a large collection of refugee stories - all of which are well worth reading. The UNHCR has also compiled a collection of 15 TED talks that highlight the resilience of refugees around the world that you can watch here.
3 year-old Ashraf was born on 15th March 2011, on the same day that Syria's conflict began. For the first 2 years of his life he grew up under ever-increasingly violence as the conflict escalated into outright civil war. One year ago his family, including his mother and father, 4 brothers and 2 sisters left there home on the outskirts of Homs and fled across the border to Lebanon. They now live in a makeshift shelter just off the main road that leads to Damascus. Ashraf's family speak of a small boy who loves nothing more than to run through the settlement, but also of the fear of loud noises and the trauma of the memories he still holds from those days inside Syria.
**Photo & Story: © UNHCR/Andrew McConnell
**Photo & Story: © UNHCR/Andrew McConnell
Hany was a talented student in Syria and his most precious possessions now are his high school diplomas. Holding them proudly he says, "These are my life, they are my future. I left everything behind in Syria, but not these." Hany had wanted to go to university to study to be a communications engineer, but the war prevented any hope of further education. Competent in English, Hany taught himself the language from songs and movies and the internet. He is a keen poet and at recitation in his shelter members of the audience were visibly moved by his words. "Poetry is a part of me," says Hany, "I do it to complete my emotions." With all this potential and passion for the world Hany spends his days in the small shelter with his phone and occasional internet connection as his only means of escape. The monotony burdens him deeply and it is with a heavy sadness that he adds, "I'm wasting a lot of time here, I cannot achieve my dreams."
**Photo & Story: © UNHCR/Andrew McConnell
**Photos taken at an informal tented settlement in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, on 12 March 2014.
**Photo & Story: © UNHCR/Andrew McConnell
**Photos taken at an informal tented settlement in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, on 12 March 2014.
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Learn about one refugee family's journey, traveling from Budapest to Germany in September 2015, before Hungary's borders closed. |
...the world was born yearning to be a home for everyone -- Eduardo Galeano