Rebuilding Lives
Pathways to a Brighter Future
Sudanese family, husband "Mohamed", wife "Samar", and their baby daughter "Jamila". fled Sudan in 2009, crossing international borders to Libya because of the conflict and in the hope of seeking a better future. In 2015, after 6 years in Libya, Samar gave birth to another healthy baby girl, Farah. Following the birth of Farah, life was going reasonably well for the family considering their circumstances however, things quickly changed for this family.
In 2016, the father, Mohamed who has been consistently the main provider of the family passed away after suffering from lung cancer. Following his death, Samar and her two young daughters were left without the main provider of the family in a foreign country. To be able to provide for her family and meet their daily needs, Samar began searching for work and eventually secured a job as a cleaner. This job unfortunately came with the sacrifice of leaving her daughters at home with a friend who sometimes took care of the girls, or Samar would take them to work occasionally which created additional complications for the family. The absence of the mother every day took a negative toll on one of the girls who developed a communication disorder. As she struggled to interact with people and communicate.
The family then began to have issues with the house they were renting as the roof was leaking water and mould was developing, there were also other tenants sharing the room with them which didn’t allow for any privacy for the family. Their home was no longer safe for them to continue living in. During this time, the landlord of the building and other tenants evicted Samar and her children from the building as she was unable to pay the rent. After Samar and her children were evicted from their home, they met one of CESVI’s Community Mobilizers. The CESVI Community Mobilizer offered Samar to take her daughter, Jamila to the Baity Center to take non-formal education classes. Jamila's classes, the CESVI Social Worker noticed that she was struggling with her communication skills and having difficulties to understand and engage in conversations with others. Jamila was also showing other concerning behaviour including becoming aggressive towards the Social Worker and other children in the Baity Center. To better understand the situation of Jamila, the Social Worker interviewed Jamila’s mother. Following the interview, a case plan was made for the family and the first step was providing them with a safe shelter. CESVI provided shelter for the family in a safe neighbourhood of Serrag one week after first meeting the family and CESVI provided the first three months of rent. Jamila was also referred to the CESVI Psychologist and after three sessions, Jamila began to show improvements in her understanding of conversations and actively participated in conversations during the non-formal education classes. The family was also referred to the IOM to receive food and non-food items.
Jamila’s mother, Samar informed CESVI that Jamila has transformed since attending the Baity Center, particularly her behaviour and communication skills. Jamila can now communicate effectively with her mother, and they can engage in conversations together. The CESVI team worked closely with the family to ensure they were provided with essential support to improve their situation. The family was approved within the UN program and have now resettled in Canada and have begun integrating into their new community. Before leaving for Canada, Jamila expressed her excitement about moving
“I am so excited we will travel to Canada and I will start learning again there”.
