It’s not easy being a stranger to a new land. When that place is to become your new home the complications can double, if not triple.
Where do you get your driver’s license? What do you even need to get a driver’s license? These were some of the questions Heeyeon Son asked herself after leaving South Korea for her husband’s hometown of Amherst, Nova Scotia, two-and-a-had years ago.
“Even though with my husband coming from here and my parents-in-law being really helpful and really welcoming… I had difficulties getting settled in because we are in rural Nova Scotia.”
As Son navigated her immigration needs, she found herself largely seeking out the forms, applications and supporting documents for not only herself but the agencies she needed to work with. Son often found herself thinking it would be nice if she had someone to talk to who had similar experience.
Fast forward to today and she has become that person.
The Newcomers Club celebrated its six-week run out of Maggie’s Place where Son is a child development facilitator. Operating on Wednesday evenings and sponsored through the provinces Diversity and Community Capacity fund, Son mixed information with informal fun by welcoming the region’s immigrants and newcomers to learn more about the organizations, resources and opportunities available to them while getting to know each other through cooking classes and participant-driven initiatives. During the run, 12 countries were represented by more than 15 newcomers to the area and for Son she says the program’s success can be measured in the connections the participants made.
“They are so happy to be here… they don’t leave,” Son said. “They are talking, they are meeting outside of the group and helping outside of the group and making connections. They are helping each other adjust to their new community.”
In some instances, some newcomers felt they had just themselves after arriving but now are going on trips with fellow participants, shopping together and bonding.
Son says she hopes to offer a monthly meet-up for the participants who hail from such regions as Brazil, Ukraine and India.
Partners who helped the newcomers learn more about resources available to them included YREACH, CANSA, Nova Scotia Works, Cumberland Sporting Group, the Multicultural Association, the Town of Amherst and Can-U.
