When Samrawit and her family landed in Vancouver in December 2022, it was raining. She loved it.
“We came at winter time. It was rainy, but not heavy. We enjoyed it.”
It’s not the reaction you might expect. Samrawit and her husband had come from Eritrea by way of Uganda, where the family had lived for years. Two young children came with them. A third would be born the following summer. Arriving in Canada felt, in her words, like freedom.
But the early months brought their own weight. Her oldest son was three and a half and not yet speaking. He didn’t like sharing. He didn’t like noise. When visitors came to the house, he would leave the room. When he was upset, she didn’t know how to reach him.
Her daughter, who has Down Syndrome, needed a schedule of specialist appointments. There were forms to file, referrals to chase, and a language that still didn’t come easily.
“It was all complicated. They add up. It was very difficult to manage, and I used to complain a lot at that time.”
Where newcomer parenting support starts
Samrawit had first come to MOSAIC for help with her PR and care card applications. In spring 2023, a referral brought her to the Family Centre. She was pregnant, exhausted, and not entirely sure what to expect.
What she found was a place to put things down.
She joined the Early Learning program, the Teaching Kitchen, and a parenting course on positive discipline. Guest speakers came in to talk about mental health, about credit cards and banking, about the public library. That last one changed something small and specific: Samrawit had been avoiding libraries, worried her children would be too loud. After the session, she started taking them. Her son now reads at home.
The Positive Discipline course changed something larger. Before it, her son’s behaviour left her stuck: she would ask what he wanted, why he was crying, and get nowhere.
“After I took the course, I understood what he needs. I learned how to manage and how to maneuver all of this. Now I find it is easy.”
Then there was Mommy’s Time, the Family Centre’s mental wellbeing session for mothers, where the moms traded strategies for finding a few minutes to themselves between the cooking, the cleaning and the laundry. “Even now, I remember what I learned, and I use it.”
Her children changed too. Her son, who once hid behind a pillow when other children played, joined a preschool through a one-on-one referral from Family Centre. Today he shares, he plays, he talks. Her daughter learned the rhythm of a mealtime and now comes to sit when she sees lunch being made. Her youngest started coming at four months old and is now busy at home with books and crayons.
A wider world, and a wider circle
The family’s world got bigger, too. Field trips took them to the Aquarium, Science World, Burnaby Village Museum, Queens Park, a pumpkin patch in Richmond.
“As newcomers, we are not going far from our homes, just close by to the parks only. But they took us to field trips, so we were exposed to a larger environment. Now we don’t wait for anyone. When summer comes, we go on our own, because we know the places.”
She found other mothers as well. They organize their own outings now, dividing up who brings what food. And she has become one of the Family Centre’s most persistent recruiters, telling parents she meets at the park to come see for themselves. Two of her neighbours did.
For the Family Centre team, watching families like Samrawit’s arrive and then flourish is the heart of the work.
“When the family first came to the Family Centre, they were facing a particularly vulnerable time in their settlement journey, overwhelmed by the challenges of adapting to a new country while caring for children with emerging developmental and behavioural needs. Despite numerous settlement barriers, they demonstrated remarkable resilience, attending programs consistently, seeking support, asking questions, and remaining committed to their children’s well-being.”
— Zelly, Amal, Saba, and Sung Sook, Family Centre Team
When expressing her gratitude, Samrawit didn’t leave out any names. “I’m always eager to see them. I miss them like family members,” she said.
Samrawit graduated from the programs in March 2025. Her plans now are specific: full-time English classes after the summer, then training in early childhood education so she can work in a daycare.
“I believe that in Canada, there is a lot of opportunities that we can harness, and my children also. I have to help them, to realize their potential, to be successful in Canada,” said Samrawit, with hope.
