Building a new life in Canada after fleeing the Taliban is still a struggle for many Afghan women, but a new women’s-only English class at Burnaby Public Library is there to help. Every Sunday morning, nearly 30 Afghan women gather in one of the community rooms at the Tommy Douglas branch in the heart of the Edmonds neighbourhood. The free class, which launched in mid-September, is part of a myriad of services and supports for newcomers and refugees developed by the Burnaby school district's federally funded Settlement Worker in Schools (SWIS) program.
Gudrun Susanne Howard, right, helps students with numbers at a women's only English class for Afghan newcomers at the Burnaby Public Library. Cornelia Naylor Along with English language learning, the class is a chance for the women to make connections with others facing the same challenges. "We have lots of sorrows," said Hasina Ahmadzai who fled her home country in August 2021, when it fell to the Taliban.
"We share our sorrows and we are happy. Afghans do not have any other assets except their friends." 'We are safe' When the Taliban took over, the women and their families had to leave behind everything, including rewarding jobs, according to Gulalai Akbari, who served in Afghanistan's national assembly for 16 years.
(Ahmadzai had to abandon her career as a high school principal.) "One thing, we are safe, and it's a big thing, of course," Akbari said, "but if we compare it with our life back in Afghanistan, it is very hard .
