Walking together: Healing and hope for Colombian refugees

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Family and gender roles change. Often it is the women of the family that are able to find work, since the
rural skills many men have are not applicable to cities, and so the women become the breadwinners
of the families while the men suffer unemployment and plummeting self esteem, unable to provide for
their children and families.
Identity as a Refugee in Canada:
“It is like you are reborn, you have to start all over again.” - Mario
Once refugee families reach Canada, they undergo another identity change. In Canada, they become
visible ethnic minorities, they are labeled as “refugees,” “immigrants,” “newcomers” or even “foreigners.”
Their accent and difficulties speaking and understanding the new language gives them away as such.
If they were professional in their life before displacement, it is unlikely that they will be able to practice
their profession in Canada. They will enter the work force as blue collar workers, and may experience
demeaning treatment - or simply being ignored - in their workplace. Navigating their new city - not
just streets and bus routes, but also shopping, banking, health care and education systems - can be
overwhelming. Everything is foreign; the refugee is no longer in familiar territory and can feel impotent
and helpless. As refugee children’s language skills quickly overtake those of their parents, the children
in refugee families start to take on parenting roles - interpreting for their parents the new world around
them and even making decisions that would have previously fallen to the parents to make. This new
series of role-reversals and identity-shifts can be painful and confusing for refugee families and may be
one of the main reasons why many refugee families struggle to stay together once they begin their new
life in Canada.
CHURCH AND IDENTITY
“To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul” 8 - Simone Weil
“One’s roots are in Colombia, but without freedom we were becoming like a dry tree about to die, and in
Canada we hope to be fertilized, recuperate and give fruit.” - José
Refugees are uprooted people. In their process of establishing new roots in Canada, forming a new,
positive identity is crucially important. Identity is not formed in a vacuum but in the context of the new
community. The sponsoring church community is an invaluable asset for sponsored refugee families
in their process of forming new, healthy identities in Canada. What better place for a refugee family to
establish roots than in their new church community?
Far from the community they left behind, refugees are at risk of feeling unneeded, out of place and
unimportant in their new context. By finding ways that refugees can begin to participate, serve and
form friendships within the church community, the church can help refugees find new meaning and
a new sense of belonging. For persons who have survived years of being told they are useless and
8. Weil, S. (1952) The Need for Roots. London: Routledge