My enemies are my fans.

 People say, "to keep your friends close and enemies closer."

My life is going totally different ways. My enemies are my real fans. They might block me or never accept my friend request. But they will visit my profile regularly. Sometimes, with fake IDs. Just wanted to know what I am doing. And if I am doing any good, they will feel jealous and try to put me down repeatedly. Gang up against me so that no one can do any good to me or can ever communicate with me. But They, themselves, can't stop looking at me. Real fan. They knew very well that I had some qualities (Which I couldn't find) that would take me up from them. So, they don't take any chances and always keep an eye on me.

I don't have any friends. Some people were good to me, and I can say they were well-wishers. They stay out of my life. Don't want to get themselves in trouble. Don't want to go against the enemy gang. Or afraid to. They visit my profile once a month, once a year, for a couple of years, or not at all.

I didn't do anything. Both of them choose to live like that.

I am trying. Someday, I will learn.

It's really very difficult to stay in the present time and satisfy whatever you can do and already have in your life. I am grateful for so many things that have happened and are happening in my life. Still, I want to do so many things, and I want to achieve so many.

If I fail to do what I want or don't achieve what I want, my self-esteem goes down. It's challenging for me to cheer myself up and motivate myself to enjoy myself in the present time. I failed very rarely in my life, and that makes my expectations too high. Now I can't make myself to ready to fail several times, it's ok. Life doesn't get stuck in one failure. I know everything, but still, any negativity makes me paralyzed. I literally can't work then. I had to rest, motivate my mind, and slowly and gradually hold myself again. 

I hope I will learn to fail and smile, shake off all negativity and live all by myself without caring about who is with me or not. I am trying. Someday, I will learn.

3 Goals to be a Programs Operation Officer

 

If you ask me what I want to be and to achieve that what three goals I should achieve, then here is my answer:

I want to become a Programs Operation Officer in a Non-Profit Organization. 

3 Goals to be a Programs Operation Officer in a Non-Profit Organization: 

a)      Operational / Project Management – Learn more about maintaining office services & standards, operational requirements for Program Delivery, Event Coordination & Management, and internal records & documentation organization.

 

 

b)      Stakeholder Communications & Relationships – Learn to communicate & maintain relationships with multiple internal & external stakeholders.

 

c)       Problem-Solving & Critical Thinking – Work with the supervisor to identify challenges & gaps throughout the organization to find efficient solutions & systems designs. 

Biography 251: Food corner in George Brown College.

 I liked many things at George Brown College. The thing I liked most was the food. My department was in the same building as the colliery cuisine department. So, we had a food corner where a chef used to prepare food. They had Halal options too. Every day, they tried to bring something new. I liked their food so much. During my lunch break, I always bought something from there.

They had food from other vendors and students (Which they tried in class).

The court should ensure that children get proper mental health support.

 I met a boy named Skylar when he was 6 years old. I found a very happy, smart, overweight, fun-loving boy who always smiles and plays with his friends. Most of the time, I have seen him come to school and any program with his grandfather (maternal).

One day, I joined his birthday party and met with his mother. Now I know from where he got all these good qualities. I and her mother had a very good time. We jumped on trampling (she paid for everything), joined the party and grand pa dropped us at home. I heard that Skylar's parents got divorced. In his birthday party, his mom was saying we have to save some cake for his father. I assumed they had a good, friendly relationship. Which is very necessary for every kid.

I saw his father come with his new girlfriend to a school program. I understand that divorce was a must. He was so obsessed with his girlfriend that most of the time, they were having personal intimacy time while the boy was playing with other kids.

Then Covid-19 time came. All classes moved to online. I found Skylar became silent in the class, and slowly, he was getting away from everyone. I asked his friend what happened. They told me his mother got married. No, he is living with his grandfather. He started saying he had no one in his life. No father and no mother!

I tried to make his friends talk with him and make him socialize. But failed. Then he disappears totally.

I think, when a court declares any divorce, they must ensure the kids get proper mental health support. Every year, they should be checked by professionals to ensure that they are OK.

I am here because you need me.

 It's difficult to love, help and care for people who don't want you. But you know that they need you. I did that kind of work continuously in every workplace, educational institute, family, and friend. I am tired now. But still, I am doing it for one person. Because I knew that individuals didn't have anyone except Allah and me. And they have no idea about it, always trying to push me away.

I am waiting for that day when someone else will take the responsibility and let me go away.

Experience working with CEE

 I worked at the CEE Centre for Young Black Professionals. From its name, we can understand this non-profit organization works for Black Youth. The organization’s primary goal is to help establish Black Youth professionally. To achieve this goal, it has many programs, including mental help. I have worked with youth job placement programs. Specifically, my job placement was to work with the operation team. It’s called the backend/paperwork job.

 

The key learnings in the field would be:

 

a)      Operational / Project Management:

I have learned how to work with office documents and maintain the confidentiality of all stakeholders. I have been taught what information I can share and which one not. To manage projects, the organization uses web-based software. I have never used this software before. So, I learned how to use it and manage all projects with that software. I have also collected documents from different stakeholders and kept them organized in the folder for the audit. I have checked all records in detail, and if I find any issue, I use to contact my supervisor to know the further action. CEE regularly organizes scrum meetings. The objective of this meeting is to keep bonding with the employees and refresh the mind between work pressure. I joined scrum meetings and got a chance to meet with other department coworkers of this organization.

 

 

b)     Stakeholder Communications & Relationships:

I was responsible for communicating with the youth and employers of those youth, as well as the manager of my department, supervisor, and the finance team of my organization. I had to use a proper manner to communicate with them. I have learned how to push for documents by maintaining office decorum. Ultimately, my supervisor was confident enough to let me communicate with the stakeholders without supervision.

 

c)      Problem-Solving & Critical Thinking:

Regularly I had to update the wage reimbursement information with the new paystubs. Before the audit, I had to check all files and folders to see if all the necessary documents were available and updated. If not, I had to fix them. If I found any other issues, I contacted my supervisor. When I joined meetings, I learned how to maintain good relations with everyone, how to speak and, if any questions were asked, how to respond. While communicating with the stakeholders with documents, always check them in detail, and if any issues are found, then contact the supervisor.

 

1.                  Build on this learning:

 

This job taught me how to work professionally, communicate with stakeholders, maintain files and documents, etc. These learnings will be helpful to work with any organization, including community workers’ jobs. This is the basic knowledge to work professionally in any organization.

 

2.                  Opportunities:

 

I would like to work with other racial and community people with different issues, like newcomers, housing issues, Climate Crisis, etc. I want to explore and learn more about community work to work with any community base organization and understand the overall situation.

 

I understood that if I wanted to make any changes in the community, I would need to make my plan pass by the authorities and would need funds. Like from the city of Toronto. So, my priority is to work with the City of Toronto so that I know how they work and will understand how to approach when any organization needs to communicate with them. Moreover, it will be great to work with the city to contribute my learnings and goodwill to the city community. 

 

The YMCA. It’s a big organization with many branches throughout the GTA. If I work there, I will be able to work in a different community, age group, and social services. It will be a great opportunity to learn to communicate in a diverse area and learn how they manage their work or events.

Biography 250: Never settled

 I am a person who wants to settle down, or you can say nested, have a permanent earning source, own a permanent address and a vehicle, and live a decent life.

But my luck doesn't support this. In Dhaka, Bangladesh, I have lived in 5 places; none was mine. In Saudi Arabia, I lived in 3 places in two cities. In Canada, I lived in 4 places in two cities. All rented. 

I had my father's car in Bangladesh for a couple of months, then he took it back. In Canada, I bought 3 cars (after selling the previous one). All were second-hand.

I don't have a permanent job; I never had one.

Sometimes, I wondered what Allah wanted me to do. Live in more places, do different jobs, and buy more cars (After selling the previous one)? Why can't I settle down? Maybe I will have to see more people, join more organizations, have more homes, and live in different countries or areas. Maybe I still didn't do what I was supposed to do. Or should I just retire?

Problems may come back

 Sometimes, we cover the problem, put it away, or take some short-term solution to avoid or eliminate it. The thing is, if you don't solve it 100%, it may keep coming back and disturb you.

Even after putting a big effort into solving it, it may come back from nowhere. So, be prepared. Solve your problems fully and stay ready, or keep your solutions ready so that you know how to handle them if they come back anytime. It's not heaven; problems may always come back.

CEE Center for Young Black Professionals

Biography 249: Hairstyle.

The hair stylist was my mom.

 My first hair stylist was my mom. She used to clean and shave our heads when we were toddlers. Then she found a Chinese style to follow, and with that cut, I didn't have to fix my hair.

When I was growing up, I used to trim my hair by myself. It was not about style; it was about taking care of my hair, which was long to my elbows.

Now a day I cut hair all by myself. Cut means literally cutting the length of my ear. It helps reduce hair dropping and control my anger. Yes, when I get too angry, I cut my hair. I wear a hijab, so only I can see it. So, to the outside world, it's the same always :)

Only when it crosses my limit

 My patience and tolerance levels are very high. So, no matter how people behave, I keep communication, never miss behave or try let them eat their own medicine. That's why people easily take me for granted.

Though I didn't say anything or react, I got hurt and irritated. So, when anyone touched that limit, I took a backstep and stopped communication from my end. If that person didn't stop, then I took steps one after another, or I can say I burned down bridges one after another until that person totally disappeared from my life.

I don't harm anyone; I just remove myself from their life.

I respected your attitude; you should do mine. I gave thousands of chances, as much as I could. But when I back off, I am no more to them and have never tried to go back or let them in.

The City should build some condos

 I think the city should build its own condos on its own land. This way, it will ensure that the condos are environment-friendly, managed and maintained properly, have good security, no extra fee or high rent, and people from different economic backgrounds can live there peacefully.

This will give the City an extra permanent earning source and let them set an excellent example of how to build and make a profit without any greedy policy.

The Four Strategies to address community problems

 Four fundamental strategies are available to neighbourhood groups to address community problems: community organizing, advocacy, service delivery or development. There is no right or wrong strategy - each organization has to choose among them constantly. Each group should specialize - the skills needed to do a good job in one are seldom those required by another. Sometimes, groups use a combination of strategies. What is important here is that you know what you're doing - that the method matches the strategy you've chosen, and that they both match the mission the group has adopted.  

Community organizing: is characterized by the mobilizing of volunteers. Staff roles are limited to helping volunteers become effective, guiding the learning of leaders through the process, and helping create the mechanism for the group to advocate on their own behalf. Community organizing almost always includes confrontation of some sort. The people who want something get themselves together to ask for it, often the people who could give them what they wish to get jumpy. Community organizing strategies include meeting with corporate or government decision-makers to hold them accountable for their actions, designing programs for others (not the group) to implement that meet the needs of the community, and aggressive group action to block negative developments or behaviors (highway construction that leads to neighborhood destruction, etc.).

Advocacy: It is important to distinguish between “Individual Advocacy,” which can be understood as “Service Delivery,” and Advocacy Campaigning (Social Advocacy), which is about broad transformative change to laws, legislation, corporate accountability, etc. Most Campaigning is Advocacy-based as it seeks a specific change (i.e. Making texting illegal, stopping corporations from polluting, making housing accessible, raising the minimum wage, etc.) You advocate FOR BROAD CHANGE, not individuals

Service Delivery is characterized by doing FOR people. Often, professionals like lawyers or social workers will attack a problem on behalf of those perceived as unable to speak for themselves. This is understood as being an “advocate.” Job referral services, counselling, client referrals, social work, training for job readiness, homeownership counselling, and business plan preparation training are methods that fit into the Service Delivery strategy.

Development is a strategy that gets the group directly into the business of delivering a physical product. Generally, groups select a development strategy because the normal course of events is not meeting the area's needs. The profit motive either does not bring private developers into the area - they can't make enough money - or it brings them in to do the wrong thing - they are converting moderate-cost rental units into yuppie condos. Development could mean housing, commercial or even industrial development. Development methods require, like the other two strategies, particular skills. Many groups have struggled to achieve good results in housing development with staff whose training, experience and interests are in community organizing, causing pain and suffering for the group and the staff. This is unfair. If we understand the distinction between the strategies, we can see the different resources needed for the methods that fit within them.

Adapted from “Community Organizing: People Power from the Grassroots,” D. Beckwith & C. Lopez 

Biography 248: The coolest day that I ever had.

 I was living in Saskatoon. On those days, almost every day for months, the temperature was -40c. One day, it was going to break its record. It went -65c. At that moment, I got ready to go out to work. So, take a picture of it, just to remember there is no bad weather in Canada, only bad clothes. That means you won't feel bad if you wear proper clothes that match the weather.

A story of self

 I am Shahana Shafiuddin. I am from Bangladesh, a South Asian country. Now, I am a Canadian Citizen. I came to Canada nine years ago with permanent residency and started to live in Saskatchewan. I lived in that province for six years. The region is well known for its harsh, cold weather.

The challenges I faced: I came from a tropical country where I had never seen snow. Then, I started living in a place covered in snow for eight months. I also faced language challenges because of my different accent and some new Canadian terms. Like here, people understand what is "a toilet" or "trial room." I started working with minimum wage, and I felt it was complicated to get a good pay job to live well. I didn’t know where I should go for recreation. I didn’t have any idea about the indigenous people. I had learned some misperceptions about them from the whites and other races people.

In this situation, two social organizations helped me. I joined “The Saskatoon Open Door Society” as a volunteer and registered as a newcomer to “Global Gathering.” They helped and supported me in organizing all forms to apply for major benefits as a newcomer and my child’s benefit. We joined and visited different historical places in the province and learned about Indigenous history; I worked with them and gained experience. Mostly, they let me join a city corporation meeting as a consultant, took me to city hall for a general meeting, and gave me an idea of how the City works in Canada. Here I must inform you that I have already completed my Master in Geography & Environment (Group: Urban Planning) from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

These experiences led me to decide to work as a community worker. Since I have been helped by the Canadian community, I can give something back to the Canadian Community.

Biography 247: Cooked Beef Curry, first time.

 I was at Chaity's home to celebrate Vorta Day (Mashed Vegetables Day). All the girls from our class were invited. So, initially, they were choosing vegetables that would work. I didn't pick up any because I didn't know how to make it. I was thinking about whom I could join to help. In the meantime, Chaity's sister-in-law came and asked me, "Shahana, come. You will make the beef." I felt somebody dropped me from the sky.

I asked, "You want me to cook beef?" She said, "Yes, come on." She wasn't ready to listen to my excuses or anything. She dragged me to the kitchen, made me sit in front of the burner, and gave me meat and masala to cook. For two seconds, I was frozen; I didn't know how to react. Then I thought, "If I don't have any option, let's try my best."

Shumi, my friend, sat near me. I already asked her to help me with cooking. She had some idea of how things were to be done. I think she knew how to cook chicken.

I started frying onions. I didn't have control over the heat. Within 2 seconds, some of the onions burnt. Chaity's brother Mithu bro saw this from the kitchen window. He screamed, "She burnt TK10 onions! Now, what will happen?" Here I must inform you that he is a very good businessman. So, it's obvious he will count the loss with money.

I was in full confidence. I told him, don't worry. I will complete the cooking. After completion of everything, I asked Shumi, do you think it's cooked now. I couldn't taste it because I had an allergy to beef. She said, yes, cooking is done. I asked her, are you sure? Because I felt that it would take a very long time for the beef to become tender. But I trusted Shumi's cooking skills. So, I stop boiling. I thought the cooking was done.

Later, we all sat together in the open space. Some tasted the beef. It needed to be cooked a little more time. The meat was a bit hard, though people ate some of it. After lunch, Chaity's sister-in-law, Boro Bhabi, fixed the beef.

Here are some tips for Canadians to keep their homes bug-free

 Bugs are a very common problem in Canada. I have some tips to prevent them. These will not kill bugs; you can just keep them away from your house or apartment.

Before you sleep, mop the entire house floor with soap and vinegar every night. It may smell for a few minutes, but it will disappear. This tip will keep bugs away from your house.

If you are affected by bugs, take a spray bottle, pour in a little fabric detergent, Datol (Disinfectant liquid), and vinegar, and fill the bottle with water. Shake it and keep spraying the area where you think bugs may stay. Keep spraying daily three times until you feel there are no more bugs.

Always add some vinegar to your regular detergent when you wash your clothes.

These steps won't hurt anyone but will keep your life bug-free.

*When you are using Detol, Savlone, or any kind of disinfectant, it will kill both good and bad bacteria. So, my recommendation is if not needed, don't use it. However, for beg bugs, Detol is a must.

Attended the City of Toronto budget meeting

 The event’s objective was for councillors to listen to any problem or concern on the budget from the Toronto inhabitants. I have heard about several issues arising by ordinary people, like needing an elevator in Scarborough Station; the new budget should not give extra money to the Police; it should go to the community to stop the overdose drug problem, gender base problem, to disable people as they are not getting enough money to survive. TTC shouldn’t put any racist message to South American People, and they misuse their money, etc. The community reacted adversely to giving a considerable extra amount to the Police in the new budget proposal.

In this event, I saw several people come to say that the police shouldn’t get the extra significant amount of money. Instead, this amount should go to the community. Some specifically said that it should go to the drug overdose problem. The younger generation needs more recreational activities, mental health support, help to eliminate poverty, etc. One asked to give this money to solve issues of gender bias. Canada is a multicultural country, though it still has gender-based oppression. A disabled person called online. I couldn’t see him but heard his voice and understood he even had difficulty speaking. He said he gets much less, and no one can survive with that money. So, the money should go to disabled people. I found that everyone agreed that the extra money shouldn’t go to the Police department; it should go to the community to make Canada a better country and solve the violence problem.

Biography 246: Vorta day (mashed vegetables day)

 Chaity invited all her classmates to join their "Vorta Day" at their home one day. I needed to familiarize myself with this day. Chaity said it was established by his older brother. On this day, they will make several kinds of Vorta (mashed vegetables) to eat with the rice. Chaity said that this time, family members won't do anything. All the girls from Chaity's class will make something.

I must say, on those I use to see vegetables after it cooked and served it on the table. I had no idea, originally how it looks or how to cook. But I always try to join or accept any invitation, so I did this too. I had a hope, my friend Shumi was joining too. She knows how to cook, she can help me. Shumi also assures me that will be there for me always.

After reaching their home, I saw they already bought several kinds of vegetables. I remember Nancy started making "Tomato Tok." Later, everybody liked that. That was the best dish on that day. I didn't see how she cooked, but I heard Boro Bhabi (Older sister-in-law of Chaity) ask, are you putting too much garlic in it? Nancy replied, I made this before, this is how it should be made.

Now a day, sometimes I try to recreate that dish. It taste good. But I think, I should ask Nancy about the recipe. Maybe I should follow the actual recipe.

I am also thinking of recreating that day in my home. All the items will be mashed vegetables (vorta) with steamed white rice.

How should we help

 When you help someone, try to help in a way that will benefit them for the rest of their lives. At least their one problem has been solved. Or if you really can't do anything like that, then help as much as you can. Don't just throw some coins so that they can wait for other coins to buy a cup of coffee.

This goes to the government, too. A person who needs help should have a basic amount of money to survive, not just enough to have something, live in a tent,
and keep begging to stay alive.

Demo pamphlet on Childcare