"I arrived in Toronto and I was like, wow!
Am I dreaming or something? Wow!
I mean, it was just so beautiful..."
Eliana Mangapi arrived from Kenya in 2015.
Born in Congo, she suffered terrible losses over the course of her childhood... She was
ecstatic to be here when she arrived, but Eliana confesses
that coming to Canada was not easy.
"I mean, it was never easy coming to Canada...because you left your friends.
I know that I will never see my dad again and my brother.
It was so hard for me to leave those kind of memories back there.
It was so hard.
At some point, it's like you're happy that you're going to
experience another life in another country.
But at the same time, it's like...you...leaving everything behind."
At Halifax West High School, the teaching staff and the administration understand the
specific needs of these teens.
For the past 20 years, the school has been continually taking in young people from
foreign countries, diverse cultures and different religions.
And the numbers just keep growing.
Today, the school encompasses nearly 55 different nationalities.
But the school is not shouldering the responsibility on its own.
Supporting the teachers and administrators is the YMCA, which in 1996, in partnership
with the school, set up the first school settlement program in the country.
"Some of the needs of newcomer children and youth are around...um...developing relationships
of trust, making friends, understanding what opportunities...are...
to get involved in the schools."
Halifax West High School has, over the years, developed new programs and initiatives to
help newcomers integrate into school and society, and adapt to their new environment.
And integration necessarily involves learning one of Canada's official languages.
"I think the big struggle is...is...figuring out how to have that balance between having
them engaged in school work that's moving them intellectually forwards, that's overcoming
the barrier of language, uh, without, uh, I guess underteaching them because there's
that barrier in place."
Part of finding that balance is recognizing the skills these youths already have.
"In order to be successful in settlement, the language piece is critical in this whole,
um, understanding of receiving an education.
In this case, it is an English education that the children are receiving, and how do you
support that, um, acquisition of English, at the same time understanding that they are
bringing a language or two already to school and supporting that."
And the young people, who have successfully integrated, help newcomers to fit in as well.
Weam Ibrahim arrived in Canada at the age of eight
because her parents came here to study.
She readily admits that learning English is easier for an eight-year-old
than for a high school student.
The key for her fellow students, in her opinion, is to get out of their comfort zone and
just try new things.
And she is ready to lend a hand.
"I think there's a lot of people that helped me...that started...to learn English..., so I
think it's definitely...it's...you have to give something back to those, um, who don't...who
are not as knowledgeable as you or who don't speak the language, and who are really,
really finding it difficult.
And I think the older you are, the harder it is to learn a new language and to, kind of
open up your mind..., and...fear of not succeeding.
And I think that's one of the biggest things."
For her, Halifax West is the ideal place for a teen who has just arrived.
"Ah, the thing I like the most about Halifax West is that it's so multicultural, there
are so many people from so many different backgrounds, ethnicities, religions and races,
and I think the...the most amazing thing is that we all share the same background, we're
all so different, but at the same time we all understand each other."
To facilitate the integration of young people, the school can count on the support of
the student government, which is made up of some 100 youths
from about 40 different nationalities.
They encourage initiatives like the Multicultural Show or the Best Buddies program, which
involves pairing up two students.
This way, the ones who have been in the country for a longer period can help out
newcomers who are having problems in a particular subject
or just struggling with the language.
"Our goal is to incorporate everyone and welcome everyone.
So whether it's modifying the games that we have in the cafeteria by simplifying
or...um...making adjustments to the questions we'll ask or whether it's...um...playing music that
fits different nationalities and different countries, we like to include cultures, and
our main goal as a student government is
to welcome everyone and have everyone participate."
At the end of the day, these efforts pay off because if teens succeed in their new
environment, it can make a big difference in terms of their family's integration as well.
"So we know that children and youths' needs are...are...really, um,
significant and if they're doing well in school, then the family's a lot more stable
and they feel more welcome and integrated..."
To learn more, visit our website at Canada.ca/refugees.