The Story...When Debi Goodwin travelled to the Dadaab Refugee Camp in 2007 to shoot a documentary on young Somali refugees soon coming to Canada, she did not anticipate the impact the journey would have on her. A year later, in August of 2008, she decided to embark upon a new journey, starting in the overcrowded refugee camps in Kenya, and ending in university campuses across Canada. For a year, she recorded the lives of eleven very lucky refugee students who had received coveted scholarships from Canadian universities, guaranteeing them both a spot in the student body and permanent residency in Canada. We meet them in the overcrowded confines of a Kenyan refugee camp and track them all the way through a year of dramatic and sometimes traumatic adjustments to new life in a foreign country called Canada. This is a snapshot of a refugee's first year in Canada, in particular a snapshot of young men and women lucky and smart enough to earn their passage from refugee camp to Canadian campus.
A Reader's Experience...
Canada prides itself on being a multicultural nation of widespread immigration, as I feel we should. But for those who immigrate, their entire life, goals, worldview and identiry are thrown in to a flurry of change that takes an incredible amount of careful deliberation, patience, and courage in order to negotiate. Goodwin's sensitive observations and thoughtful insights give readers a much more complete sense of empathy, admiration, and hope towards not only the deeply personal plights of the 11 Somali refugees that she follows, but towards the continuing waves of immigrants the we as Canadians are sure to encounter in years to come.
Because the stories are so honest and real, I appreaciate that both the refugee camps and Canada are presented in a realistic light. Few of us will ever have to feel as out of place as these students would have, and as readers we get an appreciation for the endless adjustments that must be learned day by day - friends, homesickness, cooking, money, housing, jobs, religion, schoolwork, language, shopping... all an enormous amount of responsibility and demand, even with a system of sponsorship and support. If it were me, I know that I would have to reach deep within myself and find strength I never knew that I had, and it is clear that each of the students were compelled to do just that.
I am full of admiration for the courage and perseverence demonstrated by the students. They were all driven by the desire to become successful for themselves and for their families in order to build a life they could be proud of. Not to be famous or even rich, but to create lasting stability and security. Thinking about the fears and uncertainties they had to face, I am able to put my own percieved struggles as a student in to better perspective. These students were selected because they are the best and brightest, and we can only be richer as a country and as universities for accepting them. I admire them though not simply for what they can accomplish, but for the obstacles they must overcome in order to get there. Clearly, the students are presented as men and women of integrity and purpose. It is clear that Goodwin is profoundly moved by her subjects, as am I. We are reminded through them of what truly matters, and always will, even in the globalized, changing world - tradition and family, learning and challenge, honor and commitment, honesty, hard work and friendship.
Although some of the students remain uncertain and unstable at the conclusion of the first year, we are left with a good sense of hope. Some had to compromise their career goals to be more efficient and realistic, yet it is still promising that their chances remain better than if that had remained in the refugee camps. The sponsorship programs are still developing and expanding, and the way seems paved for more students to take advantage. If the program continues to grow, there is enormous potential to benefit the lives of Canadian students and immigrants alike through the reciprical relationship of exchange. It is heartbreaking that they face the loss and separation from their families, which is why we should feel obligated as Canadians to welcome and accomodate them and create a new sense of home without forgetting the one they have left behind. It is my hope that, without imposing our own story as Canadians upon them, we could become a part of a new story and a new beginning for the students.
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