A STORY OF RESILIENCE

Schools in British Columbia are welcoming refugee children to their classrooms as Canada continues to respond to crises in many parts of the globe, including Sub- Saharan Africa. Teachers are likely aware of the many challenges for refugee children--some have never been to school, others have had their education disrupted by spending years in the refugee camps. Teachers are less likely to know about the challenges faced by the mothers of these children. Edith Kambere provide access to important information about many of these mothers in her book, Story of Resilience: Immigration, Migration, Trauma of SubSaharan African Women in Canada. 

The Story of Resilience is about Kambere's own experience in coming to Canada as a refugee family from Uganda, forced into the exile by political changes in her home country. It is also the story of other African women who have been forced to leave their homes because of dangers to their lives and who have been interviewed about their experiences.

 These women are navigating the many unfamiliar aspects of a new culture and sometimes learning a new language. Even those who have professional qualifications from their country of origin only get them recognized in Canada with more education and Canadian experience, both of which are difficult, especially when children require their support. Many have to live in poverty on the totally inadequate social assistance while they are getting established--or work multiple minimum wage jobs to house and feed their families. African women face the additional challenge of racism, both overt and the daily "macro-aggressions" experienced as a black person in Canada. 

A crippling element of the refugee experience is trauma. Being forced from their home is not the end of trauma. It is also the refugee camp or the long wait to be accepted as a refugee in Canada. And it is the trauma of having arrived with an expectation that life in this new country will be relatively easy, when it is not at all. 

Kambere emphasize that trauma is not just something from the past. It can be relived, triggered by events or even comments that take one back into the fear and depression flowing from the original trauma. She has written this book as a king of therapy not just of herself, but for other women who live this experience. Telling one's story, and hearing the stories of other with a similar experience, assists in finding a route to a positive focus on the future.

 Besides the African women themselves, Kambere hopes to give some insights that would be helpful for the helpers to actually provide help. Social workers and other who deal directly with refugee women need to listen to their stories. and co-plan building a positive future for these women, not assume that they know what will work.

 Teachers of refugee children need, as well, to understand the situation of the mothers of the children and the conflicting demands for supporting the children, but also finding their own route to success in this new country. Kambere's book should be read by these teachers as well.