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Building Bridges Graduation Day
Building Bridges Graduation Celebration Connects the Horn of Africa Community
On Saturday, March 24, 2007, the Building Bridges Program held a graduation celebration at Lawrence Heights Community Centre. The participants celebrated their involvement in the highly successful Building Bridges Program, which was developed for women and youth three years ago in a partnership between Family Service Association of Toronto (FSA Toronto) and Lawrence Heights Community Health Centre (LHCHC).
Funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Building Bridges was initiated as a means of strengthening the Horn of Africa communities of Eritrean, Ethiopian, Somali and Sudanese heritage who are living in Scarborough and Lawrence Heights. The Horn of Africa countries have experienced much war, often with each other. Building Bridges aimed to bring people together to overcome their differences and share their many commonalities: culture, language, traditions and adaptation to a new land.
The 25 graduating women lit up the room, dressed in their colourful traditional "toub" garments. Their children were also attired in their finest. Over the course of the program, Building Bridges provided child care so the mothers were free to take part in the classes and workshops. As a result, the children also made friendships and looked forward to the program as much as their mothers.
Salma Sarour, the Building Bridges Coordinator for the past year, developed the graduation ceremony as a symbol of achievement in the program. The tangible results were evident in the many photos featuring program activities that decorated the room and in the attractive display of the women's handiwork: embroidery, knitting, stencilled placemats and magazine holders.
Suolasa Gbril, who participated in the program, said about Building Bridges, "I like it very much. I learned sewing from zero. I didn't have any idea about sewing. I can't believe it!" Accomplishing something that she never thought possible has opened doors for Ms. Gbril who enthused, "Now I have a feeling to continue, like a spark inside me." She would like to learn computers skills and is willing to go to a resource centre near her home, something she would never have considered before this program.
The hall resounded with the customary "zagareed" cheers as each of the women received their certificates and were greeted by invited guests who were instrumental in developing Building Bridges. Sherry Phillips, former Director of Community Health Promotion Programs at LHCHC, and Amanuel Melles, former Manager Community Action Unit of FSA Toronto originated the program three years ago. They have both moved on to other organizations, as has Michele Lupa, former FSA Manager of Community Neighbourhood Development, but they all came back and joined FSA and LHCHC representatives, to see the joyous results of Building Bridges.
After the delicious lunch prepared by the program's cooking teacher and her class members, the entertainment began, with Ms. Fadol, a very poised youth participant, serving as master of ceremonies. The youth group performed traditional Kenyan and Sudanese dances, two young men, Sami El Khazim and Samatar Sheik-Ali, mesmerised the crowd with powerful spoken word poetry and Waleed Abdulhamid played the djembe drum to the appreciative audience.
Watching the show, Sherry Phillips said, "Ten years ago, they would never have thought of coming to this building and now they are here at this event. We need this kind of program in many communities."
While the youth explored their heritage through the Building Bridges program, the women gained sewing and cooking and attended workshops on topics of great interest to them. Building Bridges was successful in the most important aspects of the program as Salma Sarour explained, "bringing women together, ending their isolation, providing them with skills and knowledge about different topics and peace building between all Horn of Africa countries."
The three-year program has been extended to the end of August, 2007. Due to the enthusiastic response of the participants, more funding is being sought to continue Building Bridges.
The only change that graduate Iman Mohammed suggested would be to lengthen the duration of the sessions to learn even more. She was beaming as she said, "I heard from my friends, the program is very good and when I came, I found it really like they said. It was a good experience for me; I know something now I didn't know before. Really it is a bridge and we are like family."
For more information about the Building Bridges program and registration for the next session, please call the program Coordinator, Salma Sarour at 416-586-9777 x 458.
by Jane Schmidt
