Change starts here.
Change starts here.
When Mina moved to Coquitlam with her husband and baby daughter in 2007, it was like immigrating all over again.
Husband Trevor was away at work. Her parents had moved to Chilliwack and she was basically alone all day with a seven-month-old baby.
“I felt isolated,” she says. “I stayed home every day and thought: ‘What should I do?’ I’m a very active person and I couldn’t handle it. My friends were all downtown and I thought I shouldn’t have moved to Coquitlam.”
She started searching on the Internet and in newspapers, trying to find out where she could meet other young mothers and Korean immigrants like herself. Then one day she saw a piece in a Korean newspaper about SUCCESS, an agency that helps new immigrants settle into Canada, whose programs are funded by United Way of the Lower Mainland among others.
She phoned up and discovered the SUCCESS office was just five minutes’ walking distance from her home near Coquitlam Town Centre. Mina began visiting regularly with her baby Catriona and soon became a staunch supporter.
“Everything was for free. If I had known about this service before, it would have been so easy,” she says. “I went there every day from Monday to Friday from the time Catriona was seven months to three years old,” she laughs. “There was something on every day.
She went to story circles, a mother and baby drop-in, Korean parents’ club and other events gradually both Catriona and she began to make local friends and Catriona became more outgoing.
Now Mina and Trevor have a second baby, Tavis. Catriona is three. Mina is very grateful for the support she received. She is now a parent ambassador with SUCCESS, telling other moms about the service and helping organize events.
She told her personal story about the barriers, responsibilities and isolation she faced as a new immigrant at a press conference in October 2009 to discuss new research on Early Childhood Development.
The research by UBC’s Human Early Learning Partnership, funded by United Way of the Lower Mainland, found that immigrants and newcomers with young families are especially vulnerable because they aren’t connecting with early childhood development services.
Mina originally moved to Vancouver with her parents and younger brother from South Korea in 2003.
“My family had a very, very difficult time. It was so scary just going to a grocery store. We had to do everything for ourselves.
“We thought about going back to Korea because we didn’t know any route to figure it out,” she recalls.
The family lived in downtown Vancouver and although many services are available to help new immigrants, they didn’t know about them.
Mina Kim met her future husband Trevor the following year while studying English at King George International College. He was her ESL teacher, but has since switched professions and now works for Canada Post.
The couple wed in 2006, and while marrying a Canadian has helped her English and in other ways, Trevor’s out working during the day.
“Even though my husband is Canadian, most of the day I have to do everything myself,” she points out.
Trevor, too, has lent a helping hand at Canada Post, involved in United Way fundraising campaigns in 2007 and 2008 in Burnaby.
“United Way is really great at raising money to help programs and I really appreciate it as a new immigrant,” says Mina.
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