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Cultural Outreach Program
Our pilot of the Cultural Outreach Project is winding up. Please watch for our report on what our workers found when dealing with Community Leagues, newcomers, and aboriginals.
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Pictured from left to right Maria Aromin, Amandla Ngwenya, Shahriyar Khan, Alla Ternikova, Jany Yach, and Abdulhakim Hassen.
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EFCL has hired seven part-time cultural outreach workers, to help introduce individuals and families from various ethnic backgrounds to their local community league. The seven new members have joined EFCL Community Development staff member Shahriyar to form the first EFCL Cultural Integration Team.
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Five workers will focus on newcomers from Africa, Asia, Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe and two will assist with our Aboriginal relations. A big part of their job will be to work with local community leagues, to help leagues understand the needs of people from other cultures and overcome any barriers that might be preventing leagues from attracting these people. Part of their job will be to prepare a report, detailing their experience and making suggestions for future steps in this process.
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Workers join a media conference and receive great coverage in the Examiner and the Journal. From left to right, Shannon Souray, Dakota Gladue, Shahriyar Khan, Alla Ternikova, Amandla Ngwenya, Abdulhakim Hassen
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Left, the Team meets to discuss strategies |
Please contact Shahriyar Khan, Community Development Officer/Project Supervisor, for further information or any assistance your league may need to reach out to newcomers. Shahriyar could be reached at 780-437-2913, or e-mail: Shahriyar.khan@efcl.org
LANGUAGES AVAILABLE:
Amharic, Arabic, Harari, Italian, Kaland, Ndebele, Nuer, Oromo, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Ukrainian, Zulu
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EFCL Outreach Workers’ Biographies
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Dakota Gladue
Dakota.Gladue@efcl.org
- Dakota Gladue is a First Nations (Cree) woman
- Lived in Edmonton all of my life.
- Band member of Bigstone Cree Nation.
- Grew up with the Cree and Metis cultural traditions.
- Research officer with BearPaw Legal Education and Resource Centre (Native Counselling Services of Alberta).
- Extensive background working with Aboriginal communities and teaching young Aboriginal adults in aquatics.
- Swimming instructor with the City of Edmonton for 8 years.
- Heavily into sports including swimming, baseball and running.
- Currently researching and learning various topics of current Aboriginal issues in rural and urban areas
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Amandla Ngwenya
Amandla has been in Canada since 2000, arriving from Zimbabwe. A teacher by profession in Zimbabwe, Amandla later took up work as a paramedic for 6 years and has been working in information technology security up until the present day. Amandla has been heavily involved in organizing sports in the community since 2003. He is the Public Relations Officer for the Zimbabwe Cultural Association in Alberta and is the Manager of 3 teams under the Bossolona soccer organization. Amandla has also been involved in the Multicultural Coalition since 2007, and has been the Treasurer on the Board of Directors since 2009. Speaking English, Zulu, Ndebele, and Kalang, as an outreach worker for EFCL, Amandla will be working mainly with the Zimbabwean and Liberian communities, as well as the sports community through the Africa Centre. With regards to the project, Amandla says, “I think that it is a good project. It is a breakthrough in the barriers faced by immigrant and refugee communities. We are trying to find ways to look at the barriers and to help them get involved in their neighbourhood communities.”
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Jany Yach
Jany arrived in Canada in 2005 from South Sudan. He is currently completing his third year of a Sociology degree, with a minor in History at Concordia University. Jany is actively involved in his community, working as an Interpreter for the Nuer community at the Family Centre and serving as the President of the Nyirol Community Association of Alberta since 2005. Jany has also been a volunteer at the Coalition since 2007, working as a Community Animator for the Nuer community. Jany speaks English, Nuer, and Arabic. As an outreach worker for the EFCL, he will be working with the Sudanese and East African communities. Jany sees the project as “ a good way to know the challenges people face settling into their communities.” Jany also sees his role as helping people to connect more with their larger communities and to get more involved.
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Abdulhakim Hassen
Abdul came to Canada in 1993 from Ethiopia. He completed High School in Toronto, and subsequently his Mechanical Engineering degree in Ottawa. Speaking several languages, including English, Oromo, Amharic, and Harari, Abdul has been able to successfully connect with many communities in Edmonton over the years. In particular, he has been working extensively with the Oromo community in Edmonton for 8 years. He has also been an active member of the Multicultural Coalition for the past 3 years, as a Community Animator. As an outreach worker for the EFCL, Abdul will be working with the Oromo, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Somali, Djibouti, and Kenyan communities. On the project, Abdul comments, “I think the project is an eye-opener for newcomers because they don’t know what’s going on in their neighbourhoods and they haven’t been able to connect with their neighbours. I hope that as many newcomers will be joining the community league because they will get involved in their communities and enjoy the benefits of being part of it."
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Shannon Souray
Shannon.Souray@efcl.org
Shannon Souray is a Métis woman who grew up surrounded by her Aboriginal culture and continues the teachings with her children. Shannon has an education background and currently assists in developing Aboriginal-specific curricula. Currently a member of the Children's Services Governance Board, Shannon's priority is education for all people, everywhere.
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Eliza Wong
Eliza.Wong@efcl.org
Eliza can help with several dialects of Chinese.
Biography to follow.
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Alla Ternikova
My family (husband, two little kids and I) run away from Soviet Union using a fake invitation from non-existed person because it was the only way to escape that country in that time. All people had a difficult life in former Soviet Union, but we had a bit of extra problems because my husband and I belong to different ethnic groups and it was unofficially discouraged by Soviet government.
It took us 7 month to finally being accepted by another country and it happened to be Canada. Other countries did not wanted people with empty pockets. We arrived in Canada 22 years ago and did well here. MY gratitude to this country for everything it did for me and my family is in the way I volunteer to give back to the community our good fortune. Here is the list of my past and present volunteer experience:
1. Fort Edmonton Park-interpreter service;
2. Parents advisory committee, Edmonton public school;
3. Changing Together-Center for Immigrant women;
4. Mennonite Center;
5. Participating in City, Province and Federal elections;
6. Willowby Community league vice president;
7. Willowby Community president (present);
8. Federal Conservative Edmonton-Spruce Grove-Stony Plain riding Board member (present);
9. EFCL planning and Development committee.
10. EFCL District D representative;
11. West Edmonton Communities council (present);
12. West Edmonton Early Childhood Development Project (present);
13. Callingwood Skate Park and Spray Park development committees (present).
I speak Russian, Ukrainian, Spanish. Can get away with communicating in Polish, Portuguese, Italian.
Over the years I developed close relationships with people from many countries and continents, such as Caribbean, Afrika, Europe.
EFCL Culture Integration Project is a dream come true for me. I was doing this kind of work along the way of my volunteering responsibilities for years. Being a first generation immigrant myself, I know how difficult it is to integrate into new country, into new system. It took my family 15 years to learn about our great communities and community leagues. It became one of my life missions to help new people here to avoid the difficult, long pass that my family went through. We live in great, unique city. To get to know it and become part of it is a great privilege and great responsibility. I want every new person in Edmonton, does not matter what country or province or other city he/she came from, to become a real edmontonian: to learn about our great history, our great people, our great future; to become involved. Everybody I meet, I say: "Please do not feel like a spectator, feel like a participant".
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