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I think it was late May, early June of 1992 that we started to come here. We went through training for a month, and then we were officially hired, as Family Helpers. It's almost five years. Actually we use my child as a benchmark because he was born in May. He started Kindergarten last fall. I lived in the community for four years. I was there from day one. I’m glad that I was part of this evolvement. I’m interested in helping people, it’s been a big help.

I had lived in the neighbourhood for four, five months before I got hired, so I was trying to get to know the neighbourhood and things like that. One day this newsletter was delivered to our door. It was published by Better Beginnings Better Futures. I read through it and two things caught my eye: one was that there was assistance available for pregnant Moms and Moms with small children, so I thought, it might be something that my wife could take advantage of. And then at the end of the newsletter I saw that they were looking for Family Visitors, who were from the neighbourhood. And I said, ‘Family Visitors, Family Visitors?’ So I called, that was the first time I came to know the name of the Family Visitor Coordinator. I said, ‘I’m from the neighbourhood and I saw this ad. Is this confined to female candidates or is there room for a male to apply?’ And she said, ‘No, come apply, you’re qualified.’ And I thought they were looking for someone else, you know someone that would be really good, to me at least. You know I didn't want to sit around and do nothing so I went to get work. So I went to her office, and I don't know if I mailed it or brought it by hand, and then I was called for an interview. Afterwards, I went to the interview and all of a sudden the Family Visitor Coordinator called me and said that I was successful!

Actually, what happened was, I came here in 1989, and it took me another two years to get my Landed Immigrant status and then my family arrived in 1991, I got them here in July of 1991. It was a large family and I couldn't get a house and so, we moved into the shelter and from there we were basically moved here. It took us nearly five months which was a very long time.

Better Beginnings is what it is today because of the service that it provides to people. When people come looking for me, or some of my colleagues and they want some assistance, then you know that you are making a difference. That is the most satisfying thing. The other thing is the linkage and the high profile that we have here because we make so many differences. You name it, we are in there. At least I feel that I am doing something worthy, good for my self-esteem. Because of Better Beginnings Better Futures, people got involved in a co-operative housing project. While I was living here, I was one of the people who was one of the founders. We moved into that co-op while I was still living here, my family was able to move to a brand new house.

And because Better Beginnings helped me through my employment situation and things like that, I was able to contribute. Moving out of the community was difficult at the beginning because my kids were used to this area and they had a lot of friends. But over time we all adjusted. But still we are attached to this neighbourhood. We feel that we are still part of the neighbourhood because we were here for so long and because of my employment situation.

People are able to help themselves and become more assertive. They are gaining a lot of experience in things. People can come and feel safe, and discuss their issues with someone that’s different. It's also a place where people call because they know that they can get help. And I think this is the most important thing: we provide necessary resources so that they’ll be able to make objective decisions about things that are important to them. At the beginning people were very hesitant to get involved, to participate, because they were not sure of the objectives behind Better Beginnings. But once they realized that Better Beginnings is here to help them to get rid of their struggles because every family has its own struggles, people started coming. Any time there is a new family that moves into this neighbourhood, within a time you will find them at our doorstep. Hopefully they’ll be able to connect with someone from the neighbourhood and the first thing that they will find out is that here at Better Beginnings people help you, always understanding that if the service they need is not available within the neighbourhood, then we are able to help them to access those services wherever they are. The satisfaction that we get from seeing people’s faces when we help them to achieve something or to solve some issue is incredible. I think I am a better person today than when I started because of Better Beginnings. It helped me understand the system and the importance of being a volunteer.

You want to do more for your kids. You don't want them to see you bored. If they see you getting up in the morning, hopefully they will understand that sense of responsibility. I always say people are calling on me to get some help with something and I tell them they are looking for me because of my work. If you have succeeded in your endeavors, then you will be able to present that and feel good about yourself. That is why it is important to invest a lot of time in your studies. If you are given the opportunity to go out then that has value in itself.

It's a challenge because I’m sometimes overwhelmed with people calling from all over the place. I’m sometimes asked to do presentations with Andrew Fleck {Resource Centre} or people call me from the Ministry of Social Services and Health. I was also invited to attend an information workshop, and I organized a workshop. And most of the time, I work for three days with my families. Sometimes when they have an issue, it is bothersome. You are a human being, you can't detach yourself from people's concerns and problems, you can't just block your eyes and ears and say, ‘I have nothing to do with it’. You are there to help and support the families. I have become much calmer. Overall, I think my experience and working relationship with Better Beginnings has been a very positive one. They give so much to me and my family. It completed me as a person. I have grown quite a bit to see things from different perspectives, to connect and to get involved. My family has received constant support also because of my employment with Better Beginnings.

I am thankful. And you know one thing that came quite clear to me during my work with the Project Coordinator is that if you have something to say, say it. Don’t keep it to yourself, just open yourself, share it with your colleagues. Better Beginnings is so unique in terms of its support to parents. The Project Coordinator gives you that leeway, that leverage in order to be creative, to grow and then that in itself will help you to accept. Because you don’t want to fail the person who gave you that leeway and leverage. But the way she acts, she’s so open. Before you even say it, she’ll address that issue and try to accommodate you as much as she can. Better Beginnings is special and I think that it will remain that way, because of the fact that it’s delivering services that are meaningful and address the specific needs of community members. That's why it will grow and flourish because it meets specific needs of community members. It's not stigmatizing, identifying, dividing. It invites everyone, it’s welcoming. And I feel that the Somali community feels as welcome as everybody else.