Biography 257: Sewing capabilities

 My mom learned to make dresses for women at a young age. She used to make her own blouses when she was a nursing student at Dhaka Medical College, and she also made dresses for my older sister when she was born.

I remember when we were in Saudi Arabia, and even after moving back to Bangladesh, she made dresses for our sisters for Eid. For my brother, she used to make a kantha (a homemade blanket made from old soft clothes).

After that, I sometimes saw her make Luchni (Hot pot holder) with old clothes.

She knew how to make flowers on dresses with thread and needle and make sweaters, cardigans, caps, etc., with wool. She also learned how to work with cross and knit dress materials.

She always said that her older sister knew this kind of work much better than she did. Once, I asked my older aunt if she could teach me some of her work. She was ready, but at that moment, everyone was busy, so this never happened.

Learning from my mom was impossible. She is the most impatient teacher in this world.

But she had lots of patients to make dresses and cardigans for us. While she was working more hours than a full-time employee and full-time housewife and raising 5 kids.

I am so proud to have had the chance to study at Matijhil Govt Girls High School. In this school, we had a course to learn all of this, and I also learned about sewing, knitting, and cutting dresses. Because of school work, I made some good things. Then again, I am proud that I had the chance to study at Viqarunnina Noon College. Here, I had a course called "Home Economics," and I learned more about this kind of work.

Later in my life, I have always used my knowledge. People around me had so much faith in me that they used to buy anything for me to fix by sewing.

Rice in Canada

After moving to Canada, I faced some problems with the new environment. In Bangladesh, I used to eat "Nazir shah" rice. This rice is slim (slimmer than Basmoti), long and tastes good. I couldn't find this rice in the store. Here, most of the rice is big and thick. In Bangladesh, poor people eat only that kind of rice because they don't have any other options.

So, in the beginning, I used to take Basmati rice regularly. Now, I slowly learnt how to eat those big, fat rice. Now I can eat that rice regularly.

In Toronto, I found Nazir Shah rice in some Bangladeshi groceries. Let's not discuss the prices.

You won't find rice for Polao anywhere except Bangladeshi groceries. If there is no Bangladeshi grocery in your area, you will have to depend on Basmati rice only.

Child Help and Support Room (Proposed)

 Parents, especially newcomers, mostly face trouble with their kids when they need to go out to any office or work. They don't have anyone to keep their children, and they don't know how to access the childcare facilities. So, they had to take their children with them to the organization. Children usually don't like seeing their parents engaging with officer workers, so they start panicking. The whole office faces trouble handling the children. I have planned a child help and support room to solve this problem. It's unlike Childcare, where parents had to book the room first. It's for walk-in children to take care of, give support to, and educate the parents about childcare.

The project:

There will be a room in the organization or children's help and support. This room will keep children when their parents are busy with a counsellor or language test. Every month, the space will arrange a workshop on Canadian childcare information.

 

Clients:

Clients who have brought their children with them can keep them (The children) in the Child Help and Support Room while attending a counsellor or taking any test. The visitor could be any client. Mostly, the newcomers don't know how to keep their children in Childcare.

 

Agency Partner:

Non-profit organizations that work with newcomers.

 

Details about the Project:

In the Immigration Service Department, there are opportunities to give language tests, people can join language learning programs, get help from counsellors, etc. People need 2 to 3 hours to take the test and hours with the counsellors to discuss their problems and support. The children who come with them sometimes become bored, and they cry, scream, or try to run to grab their parent's attention. The parent faces trouble keeping the children calm, working with counsellors, or giving language tests.

 

Sometimes, counsellors inform the management how they face trouble with the children and parents.

 

The counsellors and other staff in the organization felt trouble handling these situations. Sometimes, the counsellors had to keep the baby so the parent could do their tests.

 

In the Child Help and Support Room, a parent can bring their children with their counsellors or receptionist. After their work, test, or counselling, they will come with the counsellor and pick up their child. They will learn about monthly workshops on Canadian Childcare and Community help from the room.

 

Each month, the Child Help and Support Room will arrange a workshop on the Canadian Childcare system, how they can keep their children in Childcare, get government support, seek help from the community to take care of their child, etc.

 

This workshop will be in person, via Zoom (participants can join and interact) and stream on YouTube directly. Some people may not be good at Zoom; they can watch from YouTube.

 

Agency Description:

 

The Child Help and Support Room project will benefit the newcomers and the Organization,  The Immigration Service department will benefit primarily. Then, parents from their department can quickly attend the test and counselling without any interference from their children. The children won't go through any tough times. They will enjoy their time in the Child Help and Support Room with toys or other activities. The newcomers will benefit from getting their support quickly and will get information about the Childcare System and Community help. In the future, when they need to work or join in any activities, they can keep their child in the daycare and get help from the community.

 

Project Description:

 

The clients who visit the organization can keep their children in a separate safe space and get information and support about Childcare in Toronto. And they can attend any test, class or counsellor without any interference from their children.

 

The project will be to help walk-in clients, and there won't be any booking system. The organization will appoint a professional childcare person with two job placement students to work in the room. Each month, they will arrange a workshop to give information about Toronto ChildCare facilities, how parents could keep their child in Childcare, how to get government subsidies, etc.

 

The organization will use one of their available room, and the new cost will be once to set up the room, like carpet/foam, cushions, toys, and some accessories and to appoint a Child Care facilitator and pay their wages. But it will benefit all: the clients, organization workers and placement students. All will be able to work in peace of mind. Moreover, the clients and students will be able to learn about the Childcare system in Ontario.

 

Setup may take one week, and we will continue the project on trial for one year. If we find the task helpful, we can extend it for more years. To understand the project's success, we will take the clients' verbal opinions about the service each time they took it and the organization staff monthly. Then, we will check the success rate. We will continue extending the project life if it is more than 80%.

 

FINAL Needs Assessment:

 

When a client comes to the organization with their children, there is no extra space where the children can stay busy. Naturally, the children won't like to sit in a chair with their parents. They run inside the office, try to touch everything and play with it, and sometimes scream to get the parent's attention. To improve this situation, we need this "Child Help and Support Room."

 

Community-Based Assets & Community Partners:

 

-          Ministry of Education and Child Care: We will contact them for funds.

-          The city of Toronto: for funding

-          Value Village: We will ask to donate toys, dresses, and other necessary items for the room. We may buy some from them if needed.

-          Dollarama: We may need to buy toys and other necessary items.

-          Walmart: To buy cheap furniture, diapers, and all other necessary items.

-          Manager of the YMCA Greater Toronto (Milner, Scarborough): Needs his permission and help in funding.

-          Security Company of the Building: Contact them and make a policy if any child goes missing.

 

 

Conclusion & Outcomes:

 

This " Child Help and Support Room" project will help run all programs smoothly for the parents with the children in the organization. And parents will be able to learn and get support in the Child Care System. In the long run, parents will prefer to take support from this organization because they can bring their children without worrying about them during their work.

Biography 256: Korma

 Eid means happiness. My mom used to cook Polao (Fragrant Rice), Korma (Chicken with sweet yogurt), Kabab, etc. I loved her Korma. I remember that, on one Eid, I ate polao with Korma too many times, and before the guests came, everything was finished. By the way, I wasn't alone who ate Korma. Mom had to cook again. It was difficult to cook for a long time in the kitchen during summer hot weather. For me, Eid means I have to eat Korma made by my mom.

Nowadays, I always try to make Korma in Eid. But my one never tasted like my mom's.

Whenever I get an invitation to Eid, I ask, did you make Korma? People may think, they have made some items, still I am looking for Korma, how greedy. No wonder she has gotten lots of extra weight.

Facebook Friend Request

 Facebook always recommends friends' IDs to whom you can send friend requests. Earlier, whenever I found any known person, I sent them a friend request. Most of them accepted, some didn't accept, and some declined. I didn't mind. It's their choice. Just get to learn who looks friendly to me but doesn't want to accept my friend request.

With time, I have understood that I shouldn't disturb people. So, I let people stalk me without any disturbance. I only accept friend requests from the people I know and ignore those who irritate me.

Pitch about a “Children’s Room”

 Hello. I am Shahana Shafiuddin, a student in the Community Worker Program at George Brown College. I propose a plan to reduce organizational issues when a parent brings children to the office.

When parents, especially newcomers, come to Non-profit organizations and look for services or help, they sometimes must bring their children because they don’t know any other place to keep them. While the parent is filling out a form, taking counselling services, giving a test, or waiting for their appointment, it can be difficult for a child to sit quietly without making sounds or running in the open space, which can be annoying for other clients, office staff, or their parents.

I plan to create a children’s room where parents can leave their children for a couple of hours while working in the organization. They can also learn about the childcare system in Canada.

This will help parents, other clients, and office employees to work without any stress about the children. So, everyone will be happy to work better, and clients will be pleased to come to the organization to get help and suggest it to others. These steps may encourage other organizations to provide better services to parents.

Biography 255: My mom

 My mom is a workaholic woman. And she likes to work fast. She worked full-time. More than full-time, there are always extra hours with or without payment. And she still managed to work at home. She did everything she did alone: House cleaning, cooking, doing the dishes, inviting people at home, and making food for them.

It's not that she doesn't want help, but none of us could work up to the mark for her. If we do anything, that makes her more crazy. So, I decided not to work or help her, as it wasn't working. If I don't do anything, she will say, no one is helping me. If I do anything, she will find 500 more faults to accuse me of and scold me for the rest of my life.

Many times, if a guest came to our home without any notification (on those days, cell phones weren't available), my mom made a full meal for them (Polao rice, curry, salad, etc.) within an hour. Even guests were surprised to learn how she did it all alone in one hour.

Now a day, she doesn't have the strength to work like that. But still, she works as much as she can, then rests in bed.

Though I always kept some distance from her to avoid making her angry, I helped her as much as possible with distance. I used to put all our wet clothes on the roof and bring those back (from level 2nd to level 6th by stairs with a bucket of clothes), go to the nearby grocery shop to get anything emergency (mostly eggs for father), pay bills to the bank, tried to give her some pocket money, giving gifts.

But it was impossible to make her happy with gifts. No matter what I bought, she didn't like that. So, I always bought gifts in a way that if she didn't like them, then I could use them. Let me give you an example. On her birthday I bought a pair of slippers. She said she won't take it. So, I started wearing it. One day, she said, you bought a beautiful one for yourself and gave a bad one to me. I reminded her that it was actually for her, but she rejected it. 

If I give them money, she doesn't spend it on herself; she saves it and spends it on her children when needed.

After school, she never took money from her parents. She always earned money and gave it to them to help their lives. Then, this expanded to her families, her in-laws, poor people from the village, poor people from the city, orphanages, etc.

Unhelpful Thinking Pattern

 a)      I’m no good at anything.

b)      She hasn’t called back yet, and I’m afraid something’s wrong.

c)      My partner has a terrible memory. It never happened that way!

d)      He only tells me I look pretty to make me feel better.

e)      I don’t think the interview went well. I’ll never get a job!

f)       No one will ever love me.

g)      There’s no point in playing unless you win.

h)      I tell my friends you’re either for me or against me.

i)        He never understands why I get upset.

j)        I know I shouldn’t go along with it, but I don’t want to let them down.

I felt happy for all.

 If you look around online, everybody is happy. Some have a new job, some have a promotion, some have visited new places, and some are happy because they have met their friends and family. I feel happy for everyone. I don't compare myself with anyone. Everybody has their own achievements and their own life stories.

No one shows how scared they are. How did they spend their time in life? So, everyone is happy.

I used to believe that when people said they were happy. But when I know them better, I see how much they suffer daily.

So, when anyone shows happiness, I feel happy for them. At least in one matter, they are delighted. I don't want any sorrow in anyone's life, neither mine. Watching others' troubles never made me happy. No matter how much I dislike them.

Project Proposal for Child Help and Support Room

    Project Proposal (Demo)

for

Child Help and Support Room

Child Help and Support Room

Parents, especially newcomers, mostly face trouble with their kids when they need to go out to any office or work. They don't have anyone to keep their children, and they don't know how to access the childcare facilities. So, they had to take their children with them to the organization. Children usually don't like seeing their parents engaging with officer workers, so they start panicking. The whole office faces trouble handling the children. I have planned a child help and support room to solve this problem. It's unlike Childcare, where parents had to book the room first. It's for walk-in children to care for, support, and educate the parents about childcare.

The project:

In the organization, there will be a room for children's help and support. This room will keep a child when their parent is busy with a counsellor or language test. Every month, the space will arrange a workshop on Canadian childcare information.

 

Clients:

Clients who have brought their children with them can keep them (The children) in the Child Help and Support Room while attending a counsellor or taking any test. The visitor could be any client. Mostly, the newcomers don't know how to keep their children in Childcare.

 

Agency Partner:

The project will be held at YMCA Greater Toronto. This organization works for newcomers and job seekers. Their primary work area is Employment and Immigration Services.

 

Details about the Project:

In the Immigration Service Department, there are opportunities to give language tests; people can join language learning programs, get help from counsellors, etc. People need 2 to 3 hours to take the test and hours with the counsellors to discuss their problems and support. The children who come with them sometimes become bored, and they cry, scream, or try to run to grab their parent's attention. The parent faces trouble keeping the children calm, working with counsellors, or giving language tests.

 

Sometimes, counsellors inform the management how they face trouble with the children and parents.

 

The counsellors and other staff in the organization felt trouble handling these situations. Sometimes, the counsellors had to keep the baby so the parent could do their tests.

 

In the Child Help and Support Room, a parent can bring their children with their counsellors or receptionist. After their work, test, or counselling, they will come with the counsellor and pick up their child. They will learn about monthly workshops on Canadian Childcare and Community help from the room.

 

Each month, the Child Help and Support Room will arrange a workshop on the Canadian Childcare system, how they can keep their children in Childcare, get government support, seek help from the community to take care of their child, etc.

 

This workshop will be in person, via Zoom (participants can join and interact), and streamed on YouTube directly. Some people may not be good at Zoom; they can watch from YouTube.

 

Agency Description:

 

The Child Help and Support Room project will benefit the newcomers and the Organization, YMCA Greater Toronto. The Immigration Service department will benefit primarily. Then, parents from their department can quickly attend the test and counselling without any interference from their children. The children won't go through any tough times. They will enjoy their time in the Child Help and Support Room with toys or other activities. The newcomers will benefit from getting their support quickly and will get information about the Childcare System and Community help. In the future, when they need to work or join in any activities, they can keep their child in the daycare and get help from the community.

 

Project Description:

 

The clients who visit the YMCA Greater Toronto can keep their children in a separate safe space and get information and support about Childcare in Toronto. They can attend any test, class, or counsellor without any interference from their children.

 

The project will be to help walk-in clients, and there won't be any booking system. YMCA will appoint a professional childcare person with two job placement students to work in the room. Each month, they will arrange a workshop to give information about Toronto ChildCare facilities, how parents could keep their child in Childcare, how to get government subsidies, etc.

 

YMCA will use one of their available room, and the new cost will be once to set up the room, like carpet/foam, cushions, toys, and some accessories and to appoint a Child Care facilitator and pay their wages. But it will benefit all: the clients, organization workers and placement students. All will be able to work in peace of mind. Moreover, the clients and students will be able to learn about the Childcare system in Ontario.

 

Setup may take one week, and we will continue the project on trial for one year. If we find the task helpful, we can extend it for more years. To understand the project's success, we will take the clients' verbal opinions about the service each time they took it and the organization staff monthly. Then, we will check the success rate. We will continue extending the project life if it is more than 80%.

 

FINAL Needs Assessment:

 

When a client comes to the YMCA Great Toronto with their children, there is no extra space where the children can stay busy. Naturally, the children won't like to sit in a chair with their parents. They run inside the office, try to touch everything and play with it, and sometimes scream to get the parent's attention. To improve this situation, we need this "Child Help and Support Room."

 

Community-Based Assets & Community Partners:

 

-          Ministry of Education and Child Care: We will contact them for funds.

-          The city of Toronto: for funding

-          Value Village: We will ask to donate toys, dresses, and other necessary items for the room. We may buy some from them if needed.

-          Dollarama: We may need to buy toys and other necessary items.

-          Walmart: To buy cheap furniture, diapers, and all other necessary items.

-          Manager of the YMCA Greater Toronto (Milner, Scarborough): Needs his permission and help in funding.

-          Security Company of the Building: Contact them and make a policy if any child goes missing.

 

 

Equity Diversity & Inclusion (EDI):

 

 

 

The action plan has been taken to move towards diversity, equity, and inclusion. The workshop and support have been taken for people from all over the world. Everyone will be treated the same without considering their race, religion, financial, age and physical appearance differences. 

Logic model:

 

 

Logic Module (Continues)

 

BUDGET

 

 

EXPECTED REVENUE	CASH	IN-KIND	TOTAL	NOTES
Foundation grant	50000		50000
Government grant	3191		3191
In-­‐kind contribution		750	750
TOTAL	53191	750	53,941
EXPECTED EXPENSES	CASH	IN-KIND	TOTAL	NOTES
Childcare Worker	52000		52000
Soft mat	26		26
A laptop	200		200
Diaper	100		100
Baby formula	110		110
Snacks	250		250
A Refrigerator	180		180
TV	300		300
Tissues	25		25
Toys		500	500	From YMCA
Dresses		250	250	From YMCA
TOTAL	53191	750	53,941

 

Indicators:

 

If 50% of parents would like to have this child's room, we would consider this a success. We will check all the data after six months of starting the project. The main front desk will record how many parents use the Child Help & Support Room. And The child help & support room will keep the data of their success workshop and support data to know how many parents started taking support or benefit from Canada Childcare Service.

 

Conclusion & Outcomes:

 

This " Child Help and Support Room" project will help run all programs smoothly for the parents and children in the organization. Parents will also be able to learn and get support in the child care system. In the long run, parents will prefer to take support from this organization because they can bring their children without worrying about them during their work.