Settlement

I'm Lorena, a 40-year-old Colombian woman. I arrived in Canada with my husband and children six years ago, hoping to offer them a better life. At the time, we had four children, ages 18, 11, 6, and 4. We arrived with four suitcases and $2,000, which we knew wouldn't last long. My English skills were very basic, and I knew I wouldn't be able to pursue my profession without a Canadian certificate. Like every beginning, it wasn't easy.

Initially, we arrived at a shelter, where we were warmly welcomed. We had a roof over our heads and food, and with the help of our social worker, we got some clothes and bus tickets to get around. My husband and I applied for a work permit, and the response was quick, but not very good news. My husband's permit was denied because, during routine medical examinations, they found something in his right lung that caught their attention and needed further study. They thought he had tuberculosis, but it was a result of a car accident he had been in many years before. Those medical examinations lasted seven months. He was unable to work during those seven months, but he did study English. Regarding my work permit, it was also denied because during medical tests, we learned I was pregnant again, and our fifth child was on the way. Our entire outlook seemed so bleak; nothing we had planned was going as expected. After seven months of waiting, my husband finally obtained his work permit, started working in his profession, and found a house to live in.

Just when we were starting to see things more clearly, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and everything came to a standstill for us and the world in general.

After months of confinement, with a newborn at home, trying to decipher my children's online classes without knowing English, and filled with fears of contracting COVID, little by little everything returned to normal. I was able to start studying English, my husband's job was improving, and he began to get more and more promotions. My children were adapting positively to this country. Learning English was a snap for them. My oldest son managed to finish high school and get into college and get a good job. Little by little, we were acquiring our own material possessions, and we began to feel like we were already part of this country.

At this point, without realizing it, six years had passed. Six years of difficult moments, frustrations, happiness, sadness, and joy, moments where we asked ourselves a thousand times if the decision, we made to emigrate was the best one or if, had we had the opportunity, we would have returned to our country of origin. We've felt thousands of emotions; every day is a roller coaster of emotions, but in the end, we look at the results we've achieved and those we still have to achieve, and we come to the conclusion that we weren't wrong. For us, as the first generation to emigrate, everything will always be more difficult, but for our children and our future generations, everything will be easier, of course, if they set their minds to it and strive for it. This is a great country, offering many growth opportunities, but it's all up to you if you want to achieve.