This First Particular person article is the expertise of Mohammad Akib Hossain, a world pupil learning on the College of Regina. For extra details about CBC’s First Particular person tales, please see the FAQ. This story is a part of Welcome to Canada, a CBC Information collection about immigration informed by means of the eyes of the individuals who have skilled it.
The wind howled by means of the empty streets as I stood on the bus cease, my fingers numb regardless of being buried deep inside my jacket pockets. The sky was a uninteresting shade of gray, mirroring the load I carried inside me. It was a type of mornings the place I questioned all the things — why I left Bangladesh, why I got here to Canada, and whether or not I even belonged right here.
Then, only a few steps away, I noticed a baby taking part in within the snow, her laughter piercing by means of the silence of the frozen morning. She twirled, carefree, till her tiny boots slipped on the black ice. Instantly, she fell. Inside seconds, her dad and mom rushed from behind and picked her up.
I lifted my gaze to the huge Saskatchewan sky, and as a gust of chilly wind hit my face, a pointy realization washed over me — I used to be alone now. Irrespective of how onerous I fell, there can be nobody to select me up and put me again on observe.
I used to be born right into a privileged family in Bangladesh and at all times obtained greater than I requested for. I used to get up at 10 a.m. to a wholesome breakfast served to me on a silver platter, with out having to fret about washing the dishes later. A flowery seven-seater automotive waited at my doorstep to select me up and drop me off in school. I used to be shielded from struggles, by no means having to depart my consolation zone as I lived underneath the protecting shadow of my dad and mom.
But, one thing inside me yearned for extra — not only a Canadian diploma from a overseas college, however the likelihood to do one thing alone. I needed to step past my privileges and develop as a person, standing alone two toes. I needed to expertise life in a developed nation — one the place on a regular basis security wasn’t a priority and the place I may increase my voice in help of social justice points with out censure.
In 2021, I checked out all the things I owned and thought of how you can pack 19 years of my life into two suitcases. I did not know what to convey moreover a number of winter jackets and a coronary heart stuffed with hope that I might discover a new residence in Canada.
As an alternative, I discovered myself in a wierd in-between.
The identical me who by no means needed to fear about transportation now ran after buses by means of blizzards to achieve college on time. As an alternative of breakfast ready on the kitchen counter, I now stood within the aisles of a grocery retailer, translating Canadian {dollars} into Bangladeshi taka to see if I may afford my groceries on a pupil price range.
I took on a minimum-wage job with the scholars’ union as a pupil advocate. Between working 10 hours every week and faculty, I barely had sufficient time to prepare dinner for myself and examine.
I did not inform my dad and mom as a result of I did not need them to fret — though they in all probability may have helped financially. They had already accomplished a lot to help me and pay my tuition charges at a college on the alternative facet of the world, so I by no means informed them once I was fighting my time administration or paying for groceries.
The uniform of discomfort was one I may by no means take off.
After I noticed that little one slip on the bus cease that one frigid morning, I had a way of realization that if nobody was there to select me up, I needed to stand alone. And so, I did.
I began pushing myself out of my consolation zone, embracing the alternatives and assets out there round me. I started volunteering and by connecting with individuals from completely different elements of the world, a lot of whom have been in the identical footwear as me, I discovered a way of objective.
Final 12 months, I helped the College of Regina host its fall orientation for over 1,000 worldwide college students from all the world over as an envoy chief.
Six months later, a South Asian woman walked as much as me on the college and stated, “Thanks a lot for the work that you just do.”
She informed me I might made her really feel at residence on that orientation day and she or he’d hope to do the identical for different college students sometime.
I did not even keep in mind interacting together with her earlier than that second, but I had by some means left an affect on her.
I thanked her from the underside of my coronary heart. However on my manner residence that night time, all I may really feel was my coronary heart swelling with happiness as tears of pleasure rolled down my cheeks.
My work felt prefer it had paid off. I used to be a part of making a world the place newcomers did not should get up each morning worrying about “becoming in,” however as a substitute have been welcomed with open arms — no matter their background.
The identical one that arrived in Canada at all times being taken care of had now turn into somebody who takes care of others.
The sensation of residing within the in-between nonetheless haunts me to today, however I might undergo it once more. Pushing myself out of my consolation zone has formed me into the individual I’m as we speak – somebody who’s discovered how you can stability learning, volunteering and sure, even procuring to fill my fridge and cooking for myself!
I’m proud to name Regina my residence, due to the neighborhood I constructed round myself. A neighborhood the place individuals really feel welcome, acknowledged, and at residence.
Ultimately, I really discovered a house 11,500 km away from residence.
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