National Adult Literacy Database

September 29, 2008

This week, our story was written by Joanna Hong, from Toronto, Ontario. Joanna was recently enrolled in the Immigrant Women's Integration Program (IWIP) offered by the Toronto Centre for Community Learning and Development (CCL&D). Like thousands of immigrants leaving behind their home countries and careers to start new lives in Canada, Joanna kept a positive outlook even when faced with the difficulties of trying to find appropriate work in a new country. The lack of Canadian experience, inadequate language skills, and the pressure of seeking employment in one's true profession are the biggest barriers of the Canadian immigrant experience. Joanna's story below is part of a profile article written for the Centre by Jose Gabriel Sevilla.

Story

by Joanna Hong

I arrived in 2001, like every new immigrant, I experienced hard times at the beginning. I could not find my professional job and had to accept any work to support my family. I felt that I had lost my way to a meaningful life.

IWIP focuses on the leadership and development training for immigrant women especially on community development engagement. In China, I was a computer science teacher, so naturally I want to help others with my knowledge.

Through training, I learned skills and gained knowledge from the teachers at CCL&D. My communication skills were greatly improved and I became more confident. I studied and worked not only individually but also in a team.

I also worked on a project called Community Profile and Local Scan. This helped me investigate the issues facing the community and how to solve them by using the theory of change and critical thinking.

I recently facilitated the Practical Introduction of Internet Use and Chinese Information On-line workshop. It was created for Chinese seniors in our community. I taught them how to get Chinese news and how to search for useful information on-line.

I benefited a lot from CCL&D for the spirit of cooperative teamwork and the spirit of dedicating to community development in my life.