We Asked Student Refugees About Their Canadian Experience

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We Asked Student Refugees About Their Canadian Experience

We asked some refugees attending college in Canada about their experiences so far. No one complained about winter.

In September 1999, Abdifatah Mohamed arrived at the Ifo refugee camp with his parents and younger sister from Somalia. By 2015, his family were four of 84,181 refugees residing in the camp. Abdifatah attended primary and high school within the camp and knew that by graduation he would be able to continue his education at a Canadian university in the fall.

He was sponsored by the Student Refugee Program (SRP), a program that operates in camps across Africa and the Middle East by the World University Service of Canada (WUSC) and arrived at the University of Toronto in September, 2016. His next goals? Finishing his engineering degree, becoming a Canadian citizen, and helping his little sister join him in Toronto.

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SRP and the World University Services of Canada (WUSC) has supported over 1,600 student refugees over 39 years and currently operates in four countries of asylum: Kenya, Malawi, Jordan and Lebanon. To get into the SRP program, students are assessed based on a series of criteria ranging from their academic standing to language (English or French) and for many students, these tests, if they're successful, are a way to continue their education and create a once in a lifetime opportunity to make it out of refugee contexts.

We talked to student refugees attending Canadian universities, some who have come through a program and some who have not, about their story. From their childhood within the camps to the struggles they have faced as new residents, we found out what their Canadian experiences have been like so far.

All photos by Ben Agbeke

Abdifatah, Ifo Camp in Kenya, University of Toronto, 22

VICE: What was Ifo Camp like?
Abdifatah: Well, I moved to the camp in 1999 when the Civil War was taking place in Somalia with my parents and younger sister. It's not a permanent settlement and people can leave anytime they want and when their home country has peaceful they are free to leave. However, we would have nothing in Somalia if we went back that's why it was so important to work hard in high school and get the grades needed for the WUSC program. My family is still in the camp but in late 2016, the Kenyan camps said they have close down some of the camps so it will be harder for my sister to start her education now. So, I will work harder to bring my family here.

So, you want them to see what Canada has to offer. What has Canada offered you?
Being here has allowed me to continue my studies. I'm in engineering and I've been able to find many ways to pursue different careers in that. In Toronto, you always have good company. I can find every food, every kind of person. You can find anything. Through the WUSC committee on campus I get my tuition paid for one year, monthly allowances, and an on-campus job.

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What have your biggest challenges been?
The most difficult thing would be loneliness. When I got here I was alone in residence for two weeks with no laptop or cell phone. You have to have a very strong mindset when you move here because you don't have the same feeling of being with your mother here. My mother would make food and do laundry but now I have to do laundry myself. I've met many great friends in my residence now though and hopefully I will get my Canadian citizenship by the end of 2017. I would already consider myself half-Canadian anyway.

Akuei Nyol Kuol, Camp Kakuma in Kenya, University of Toronto, 26

VICE: How important was education within the camp you lived in?
Akuei Nyol Kuol: Education was very important in camp life. It was the hub where you could see the light at the end of the tunnel. We didn't have a lot of freedom to do a lot of things, not even farming and we would rely on what the donors gave us. When I applied to WUSC after high school, 200 of us out of the 100,000 in the camp applied and only 20 were selected. You have very limited opportunities within the camp and the country so I felt very lucky to get the opportunity. I left South Sudan to find refugee in Kenya but I came to Canada to continue my education.

What other opportunities has Canada given you since you've been here?
Almost more importantly, Canada has given me a permanent place to live and a feeling of being a legitimate citizen. Back home, South Sudanese people didn't have the opportunity to go to school. In Kenya, they could stop the bus and if they realized you're a refugee you could be arrested. Here, I feel like I am a member of society like any other Canadian and something I could call mine.

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What is your next steps in the next couple years as a Canadian?
For now, I don't know if I'll go back to South Sudan since the conflict is still very intense, but I don't know how soon that will be resolved. Either way I need to find a place where I can work and establish my life. I would go back home if I could get that. I play an important role in my country and refugee camp because people need to be inspired to just not wait for the next meal but to find new ways of living. I'm also majoring in geology so it would be great to get a job in that.

Do you want to help bring up the next generation within your country then?
Yes. WUSC is very life changing. The few kids that get this opportunity find it really inspiring. Even if they don't make it into the WUSC program they'll still have great grades and good work ethic and it will open doors for them in other ways. But I want people to look at me to get an extra push. As someone who has been here a little longer, I find myself becoming a big brother to new WUSC students and sharing some of my perspectives on things.

Janet, Kakuma Camp in Kenya, 25

VICE: How did you find out about WUSC in the camp?
Janet: In the camp, there was several agencies that would deal with the students. Windle Trust Kenya, an organization that provides schooling and training to refugees in Kenya works with WUSC. Every single high school student would only go to high school to get the WTK and WUSC scholarship. You would have to go through two interviews like it was a job. They would look at your grades and your overall story and then the second interview would be an English program that you had to pass first. So thankfully I got through everything and I hope my younger sisters can do the same.

Compared to back home, is Canada different than you imagined?
In the sense of culture, yes. We do things very differently in Africa. I also didn't know how hard it would be to be away from my family. I have to do everything myself and I couldn't depend on the support from my mother.

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On the brighter side, my eyes have been opened to many different opportunities involving technology, jobs, meeting different people, seeing different culture. It really changed me as person. I was going to Brock University but I had to move to Toronto to work and save up money to finish up my degree.

That must been a hard decision to make.
Yes, but I knew this experience would come with it's challenges. The biggest would be living alone here, with no family members. We have the WUSC committee but at the end of day it's just me. So, I have to decide what I do with my money, what job I should apply to. But this opportunity is something I would never change.

What do you want to see in a year from now?
I was in public health so in a year I want to be back in school and finish my degree. Only one more year to go! Then I will hopefully work in a health department helping people with their health.

Oh! One thing I would recommend to the new WUSC students coming in a year. Be patient when you're setting up your phone. Phone companies are a pain in the butt.

I think we all feel you on that.

Jacky, Kakuma Camp in Kenya. Brock University. 28.

VICE: What was is it like being a female refugee student?
Jacky: It has been very special but difficult. In the camp, they would consider how many girls were in it so they changed the grade requirement for girls to C+. It was very helpful for girls because many of us would have less time to go to school. I tried to get into the WUSC program and when I got in there was only six girls out of 23 people.

Females take on more of the family chores and few girls will graduate because frankly, it's difficult to do well. Many of the girls get pregnant before they get to high school so they end up going to school, juggling family and chores as well. I had my son, Olise, in 2009 and thankfully my family helped me take care of him and I was able to bring him over to Canada in 2011.

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What are you doing now at your university?
I graduated from Public Health and I'm doing my masters right now. My first 2 years my university paid for my tuition and textbooks but after that, I use OSAP to cover my school fees and I have a part time job to cover everything else. Which I think a lot of Canadian kids do. I'm very lucky to also have a church in the community paying for my son's daycare. However, I'm hoping to get a full-time job afterwards to support my son. He's eight now.

What does your son want to be when he's older?
Well he's the reason I'm going to stay in Canada because he has all the opportunities in the world. He wants to be a hockey player or a fireman. He also wants to save the environment so we will see.

Charles*, Damascus, Syria, Brock University, 21

VICE: When did you come to Canada?
Charles: 2008. My story is a little bit different than the average refugee. I came here on a tourist visa at first because post-9/11 it was very difficult to get any kind of status other than that when you're from the Middle East. Back in 2008, there was dangers within Syria but not in the same nature as now. Back when the current president took power in 2005 and he began to change things slightly. We were allowed to apply for passports for the first time so that allowed me to actually travel outside of Syria. But mostly, the country began to change for the worst. I mainly moved to Canada because of my identity which made me an unusual person  to live in Syria. When I was eight, I fell in love with the British culture and when I was 15, I left Islam as well, which became quite of a hassle. I felt like I would belong to an English speaking country.

How did you get you become a refugee in Canada then?
Ever since I got here I've had eight visas. My tourist visa was six months than my student visas have been one year long. On a student visa you have to pay international fees at university which is a crazy amount higher than domestic.

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My parents would pay for my tuition but because of the war the Syrian economy has collapsed dramatically so they couldn't pay anymore. I also couldn't pay to renew so I would have had to go back to Syria. I couldn't stay here legally so I started the refugee process. If you're inside the country I had to prove to the government that if I returned to Syria I would be in danger personally so that was a very hard process.

How did you prove that?
Since I'm a male from age 18-45 there's a mandatory military service. The nicest thing that would happen to me is that I would be forced to fight and if I didn't fight the government would most likely kill me.  And since I've been gone for so long, I would be viewed as suspicious and be questioned which is an understatement.

Do you feel like a refugee here despite how long you've been here?
I do because of the process I had to go through to get the status. It was very traumatic. It was like waiting on a death status waiting to hear if I got it or not. Plus I had to hear and see many terrible stories while putting together my application to become a refugee.

I've already dealt with the initial culture shock but I know many Syrian refugees find it difficult. They're still dealing with the trauma from the war and many have PTSD. They also have a lot of social isolation as they experience xenophobia in smaller communities in Ontario like the Niagara region for example. I think Toronto and Montreal is better since they have a lot of great programs set up to not only help financially but socially.

What else are you planning? Will you ever go back home?
I'm graduating this spring and then I'm going to Carleton to do my masters in Paleobiology and my Phd. Hopefully I'll become a professor. I wouldn't go back to Syria, even if the war does finish. This is my home now. I'm going to apply for my Canadian citizenship in 2018.

*Name has been changed to protect anonymity.