No satire from the Out and Abouter today. Instead he offers an important and articulate reminder of the value our Somalian refugees in the US and Canada have brought to their new countries, and their contributions in making our countries even better for all, like those of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar in the US and Canada’s own Ahmed Hussen, MP and Cabinet Minister for Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship. Thank you, Paul Duncan, for this post.
U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
I remember when Somalian refugees began arriving in Toronto in the early 90’s, as a civil war rendered their home nation dangerous and uncertain, and no place for families to live – or anyone, for that matter, who wished to walk in peace on this Earth.
They were generally large families, often accompanied by attentive mothers who wore burqas made of light and flowing fabrics; garments which blew in the stiff lake breeze that often sweeps the city of Toronto, stretched as it is along the northern shore of Lake Ontario.
Many slept in the cramped single rooms of the old 1950’s motels that line Kingston Rd, while they waited for a foothold in this vast, strange, and not-always welcoming country. Others took up residence in the basement apartments that lie beneath many of the large suburban homes of Scarborough, hunkering into this new land that…
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Loved that post. Words that both celebrate and dismiss with effortless contempt.
Thanks, Roy. I know, that’s what especially appealed to me: Paul Duncan’s emphasis on the celebratory side of what immigrants and refugees bring to our countries, and what they’ve had to overcome.
wonderful expression
for overcoming discrimination 🙂
Yes, and we need every tool we can think of to overcome discrimination. 😥
Ahhh. South Africa is not without issues too. We have the Pakistanis who work so hard, harder than some lazy South Africans, the Zimbabweans and Malawians.
😥 Sadly, Kavitha, we are reminded time and again that mankind remains a work in progress! But we can’t just be accepting of so much targeted and unwarranted vitriol.
I fully agree with you Jane. It’s not an ugly world as some say. It’s a beautiful world tainted by people.