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É: Hum... I was wondering, you know, you're talking about how people are not always very receptive, so I was wondering what were your impressions with regards to Canadians in general, their lifestyle, and their country...
M: Well for the lifestyle of Canadians, really quickly, I could say that it's an individualist mode, and that's nothing to compare with what we have at home. It's sure that here the economic and technological state means that everyone is self-sufficient without someone else. When someone works they count their money and they don't need anybody else. At home it's not really the same thing, I can't figure out or imagine how certain people could live in the same house and not know their neighbour's name. But he doesn't need me and each day he goes to work and comes back, without bothering, and each one is considered self-sufficient. But once they are at meetings in public- since I was very involved in volunteering and stuff- in public people are very nice and when you have the chance to actually talk to people then they are really open, but it's not exactly the same thing when you are looking for work or for something that requires you to ask something that you can take to your advantage. People smile, they do everything, but the openness is superficial.
What I like to say is that solidarity exists here in another form, for example it doesn't exist if there's no publicity attached to it. It's as if you want to be spoken about. I was referring to what happened with the tsunami and everything. I can't explain how, when getting off the subway and seeing a homeless person, we insult him, and then at the same time we send money to an organization that works for the well-being of those people. Its one form of solidarity, this money is sent and given with a lot of generosity, but I was wondering if the one who is suffering on the side, is he not suffering as much at least? I am told that it's because they chose that life themselves, and that they had the options to be helped but they decided not to, and then I say I'm not convinced because even if it were the case, then the human relation is still the same.
I remember one time somebody begged from me, and it was a old man of about 70, and I stopped to talk with him for a bit and he asked me where I was from, and I told him I was from Chad in Africa and we talked for a bit and then he told me it was enough. It's not necessarily money that he needs, but when people insult him while passing by then it's not the same thing. I was thinking to myself, as long as we live in the same house and you are suspicious of the other ones because you don't want to walk on their territory, then it can create other situations. I think that we live brainwashed by laws, not by the human factor, because it's not that it's bad, but the machines are now replacing humans' hearts. I say that for me, without complaining, I say that it's not the natural bond that we have at home, like, at the same time everybody does his thing without bothering the other.
É: But if, for instance, you had friends or family from Chad who told you that they were interested in coming here to Canada, what would you tell them?
M: One thing I would say is that it's a really good idea to come, but they have to be realistic. But as I often said, we have the impression that the Canada experienced from within as an immigrant is not the same Canada as we see elsewhere when we see publicities on the walls. When we do come here, we realize that we are a small piece, part of a big system, and we have to fight to survive, and when I say to survive, I mean, it's not always the easy life, and it's not always the easy life that is shown in the media. But it's true to a certain extent because someone who lives here, he has everything, he has everything in his room, but other people don't necessarily do so. If we want to take my room at this moment, we can take it and put it in the context of Africa- then it is all luxury. But here in the Canadian context it isn't anything. And we start thinking that people have big diplomas, big experiences, big references, and it takes them 5 or easily 10 years to find half of what they used to do, it's frustrating. But for me I don't see it that way because I was still in process, I was still a student and I was responsible for the newspaper but I was still going somewhere. But when you see people that already have references, then it's a bit frustrating at many levels. There are friends that are students and they want to come here, it's good. If they want to come here to study, it's good, but if they come here because they think it's paradise here and things are all going to go smoothly, then it's problematic.
Me, I lost two years, almost three years, waiting for procedures before being able to start University. The youth, the ones that I left behind, they went forward in their life and now they are forging their place in the world, as opposed to me who is still searching for himself. Today if I talk with these young people, I realize that they went forward in comparison to with me, and if I look at things from an interior perspective, then I am still a little bit advanced since I didn't adapt badly to life her, but at the professional level I think that my references didn't grow at all, because I still have to find my way. So I'm saying that if someone wants to come, they have to be realistic, or else they risk being harmed in their self-esteem. But it seems that with time, it all works out and you finally adapt, but I don't know, for now, its still...
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Je suis étudiante en économie du développement au Canada, présentement volontaire en prise en charge socioéconomique des personnes vivant avec le VIH SIDA au Burkina Faso. Je m'intéresse particulièment aux mouvements sociaux et aux questions d'équité et d'oppression.
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