Mahassen receives her Shining Star Award at the Courtenay Walmart
Mahdi enjoying the unique experience of snow
Mahdi and Mahassen
Arrived September 2019
Mahdi and Mahassen are two siblings who landed here in the Comox valley as refugees in September 2019. They have been so grateful and thankful to the people who made them feel welcomed. They are very handworkers, and always strive to do better. When they arrived, they found jobs within a month, and they have been working as full-time workers through the entire pandemic, sometimes working two jobs. Still, they find time to participate in community sports, such as volleyball, soccer and basketball! Beside working and supporting themselves they also wanted to pursue their studies, so Mahdi is taking his upgrading classes at NIC and plans to join the Engineering field the coming fall. They also want to thank Immigrant Welcome Center, who helped them to take some English courses prior joining the college and fill the gap of their language knowledge.
One thing Mahdi likes best about living on Vancouver Island is the beauty of the nature and the continuously changing weather!
Written by Mahdi
Yassin
Arrived November 2019
Yassin has been taking an upgrading course program with NIC.
Recieved an award for best cashier at his retail job, working full time through whole pandemic.
Yassin is an accomplished writer. Here's what he has been working on for his writing career:
- Attended creative writing workshop, hosted by Eritrean novelist and Aljazeera Institute creative writing program tutor Haji Jabir which was held in cooperation with Takween publishing
- Among 50 youth writers, he passed all the qualifiers and reached the final stage to write a short story to be published
- Published a short story with 16 other Eritrean youth throughout the world in 2021
- He has been writing articles for different Arabian websites and magazines in different topics which contribute in youth outreach
- Has written a book of short stories and will be published soon, and is almost finished his first novel
Written by Yassin
Munir stands in front of his first car!
Munir
Arrived November 2019
- Completion certificate from LINC Home Study-Canada program
- Registered for courses at North Island College
- Employee of the month at his retail job, February 2021
- Promoted to Customer Experience and Salesfloor Department Manager
- Has been working full time through entire pandemic and still managing his studies
- Compeleted basic retail management course
- Completion certification in Occupational First Aid Level 1
- Received three certificates of recognition for continued good customer service
- Studied hard and practiced to pass his drivers test and was able to buy his first car!
Written by Munir
After a long wait due to COVID, Farej (photo center) finally arrives in the Comox Valley.