English Café offers support to New Canadians

WINNIPEG, MB – For new Canadians, the prospect of adapting to life in an unfamiliar country is a daunting one. Even the most fundamental issues in life can seem insurmountable when language is a factor.

This community need prompted the formation of English Café.

Tuesday evenings between six and eight o’clock, volunteers meet with newcomers to Canada at this connecting point on Morrow Avenue, just off the main thoroughfares of Ste. Anne’s Road and Fermor Avenue, at The Salvation Army’s Barbara Mitchell Family Resource Centre.

The program is participant-driven. That is, when someone comes to English Café, they decide what they would like help with. One week, a stay-at-home mom might want to practice conversational skills in English. The next week, perhaps she needs help with understanding her child’s report card.

After moving to Canada from the Ukraine with her husband and son just ten months ago, Alla explains, “Most volunteers help us with our speaking English, it’s very useful for us because we have difficulties with this. They explain the traditions, some situations that we don’t understand, we ask and they explain (to) us what we should do or shouldn’t do.”

Her friend Liubov, also new to Canada from the Ukraine, agrees, “We have support here and when we have difficulties, we ask them. They support us, they became our friends. It’s like a family would support us. It’s a great place, we can come with family, with kids.”

While English Café draws participants who were born on various continents, the diversity of volunteers is wide as well. Jacob Friesen, Pastor of Morrow Gospel Church, has been volunteering for around four years now. He says relationships are the biggest reason he continues to help out at English Café, “It offers a practical chance to understand and embrace the lives of some of the most beautiful people from around the world and to learn from them how to love one another. It’s humbling and amazing at the same time.”

If you would like to volunteer with the English Café or wish to make a donation towards helping assure new Canadians have a place to advance their knowledge of the English language, please call Hurmat Habib, (204) 930-8028.

Feature photo: Alla and Liubov, English Café participants, practice their conversational English with Pastor Jacob Friesen, volunteer.