Every Sunday
afternoon from October to April, forty women gather together and take part in
Frontier College’s Domestic Worker Literacy
Program in the Learning Resource Centre below Britannia Library. Over half who
attend are the learners: women employed as domestic workers throughout Vancouver
and the greater Vancouver area. Most of
the current learners are Filipino, although there is a small representation
from Russia, Peru, and Japan. Their
ability to communicate and write in English is generally at the intermediate
level. About 15 female volunteer tutors,
recruited and orientated by Frontier College, attend the program each week as
well. Some of the volunteers, in past
years, have been from the Downtown Eastside community.
The Domestic Workers Literacy Program is
designed to support the development of language and literacy skills, as well as
to provide learners with the opportunities to know their rights and empower
themselves, to interact with Canadians other than their employers, to come
together as a supportive community, and to be leaders within their
community. Community—and the stability
that comes with it-- is particularly important as most of the women have left
their families to come to Canada as the primary income provider for their family and
extended family.
Recruitment for
the program has never been a necessity. “In fact, there is always a waiting
list for the learners”, says Briony Taylor, the Community Coordinator for
Frontier College in Vancouver.
“Information about the program seems to be communicated through
word-of-mouth and the learners come from any place that is connected by the
transit system”. Given the popularity of
the program, it is hoped that sometime in the future the program can run on
another day in a different location.
The program’s
coordinator Natalie Youssef explains that programming is adapted based on
feedback from learners about what they want to learn. Each week there is an overarching theme, which
in the past has included resume and cover letter writing, and interview and
employment skills in a Canadian context. One of the volunteers, a student from
UBC, ran a workshop on health care in Canada and what was available to the
learners. The program also hosts guest speakers from the Domestic Workers
Legal Association who speak about the rights of domestic workers employed in
Canada and the rules and timelines around their visas. In the past, learners
and tutors have worked through the guide for becoming Canadian citizens. “Not
only to study it,” Briony Taylor qualifies, “but to also question and critique
its content. A lot of the participants have an ideal perspective of Canadian
culture. This program tries to honour their culture, and highlight that they
don’t have to push away their past. ” Since many of learners worked as mid-wives,
nurses, and accountants before coming to Canada, developing their English writing and grammar skills is
important for those who wish to upgrade or take courses at the post-secondary
level.
Taken together,
the program and its success has become a vehicle for confidence building and leadership
development. About 7 months ago, the
learners felt confident enough to start their own Facebook page (in English)
where they could share information with one another, as well as post updates
about volunteer openings in Vancouver and surrounding areas. Natalie and Briony hope that the leadership currently
being taken on by the learners will later translate into some of them becoming
volunteers within the program and perhaps even stepping into an coordinating role.
Frontier
College aims to identify learners not reached by other literacy programs. If
you are interested in volunteering with the Domestic Workers Literacy Program,
contact Briony Taylor at btaylor@frontiercollege.ca.
Frontier College’s next intake of volunteers will be in January 2013. If you
are interested in registering as a learner in the Domestic Workers Literacy
Program, please contact Natalie Youssef at vancouver@frontiercollege.ca
