Dozens of newcomers gathered at the Bennetto Community Centre, in Hamilton’s north end, on Tuesday to learn about available support services.
Refuge: Newcomer Health organized the event, due to a high demand for help from refugee claimants and asylum seekers.
Newcomers from Africa and South and Central America lined up to speak with the many organizations offering help and information.
The room was filled with people who say they have left everything behind in search of a better life in Canada.
READ MORE: Feds respond to Hamilton’s funding request for refugee housing
Looking for a safer future for herself and her family, 54-year-old Miriam Kaluga left her three grown children and her teenage son behind in her home country Kenya to start a new life here in Hamilton, with a little help from the Y.W.C.A.
“At first it was hard because its a new country, new people, I didn’t know anybody here,” Kaluga said.
“They helped me settle, I can drop in, then they housed me.”
She’s been here for three months, living in temporary housing at the Y, but with her work permit now in place, she’s looking for a job, and eventually a home where she can bring her children.
“I’m ready to work, I’m ready to work, contribute to building the nation and the community,” Kaluga said.
READ MORE: Niagara region demands help with influx of asylum seekers
Arriving in Canada in June, after fleeing the war in Sudan, Rihab Ali and her four children are also looking for safety and security.
She tells CHCH News through a translator that her family is staying at the Good Shepherd shelter, and looking for pro-bono legal help to start a refugee claim and apply for a work permit.
And today’s event she says is helping with that.
“I love hamilton,” Ali says.
Lohifa Pogoson Acker with Refuge Newcomer Health says the demand for help and information on how to find help is sky high in Hamilton.
“They’ve come here, willing to work, willing to contribute, just looking for a better life and looking to give back as well,” Acker says.
“The shelters are full, there are so many gaps in supports, we had about four or five people sleeping in the streets, some of them sleeping above Jackson Square.”
READ MORE: ‘A band aid’: Toronto-area community groups help asylum seekers find shelter
Newcomers could find help securing a job or volunteer work, securing education support for their children, where to get food, as well as legal advice, housing supports and a wide range of other important services.
“You think about fundamental human rights, housing, food, clothing, they don’t even have that let alone information to integrate them into the society here in Hamilton,” Acker says.
“Settling down you need such an organization and they are really helping us,” Kaluga said.
