When people flee, they often carry their keys, holding onto the hope that one day they will return to the people, places, and familiarity of the home they left behind. But war, persecution, conflict, and climate emergencies can make returning difficult, if not impossible. In 2023, through Canada’s Private Sponsorship of Refugees program, Bontu, Alpha, Naomi, and Sephora arrived in Victoria to begin making a new home.
Here is Alpha’s story in his own words
Because of my family’s status and influence in our community, we became targets of persecution in our home country of Ethiopia. Three of my paternal uncles and my brother were taken in a single day. To this day, our family does not know what happened to them, and we never had the chance to bury them or find closure.
As the situation became increasingly dangerous, I eventually had to make the painful decision to leave my country for my own safety. My journey has taken me from Ethiopia, through more than a decade of uncertainty as a refugee in Egypt, and eventually to a new beginning here in Victoria.
ICA helped my family understand unfamiliar systems, access services we did not know existed, connect with our new community, and begin establishing ourselves in Canada.
The assistance ICA provides may sometimes look like filling out an application, making a referral, registering for a class, booking an appointment or simply having a conversation. But to a newcomer beginning again, those individual acts can become the building blocks of stability, confidence, belonging, and hope.
One of the things I have learned from my journey is that receiving kindness creates a responsibility in me to extend kindness to others. Through Oak Bay Volunteer Services, I spend time visiting seniors, sometimes simply sitting with them and sharing an hour of conversation and companionship. These moments may appear simple, but they mean a great deal to me.
After arriving in a country where people helped my family feel that we belonged, I now have the privilege of offering companionship to others.