Thursday, February 24, 2011

WORKERS IN DISGUISE

I have spent this day facilitating a hope workshop for settlement workers. Settlement workers provide almost any kind of support and service to people who come to Canada from other countries, hoping for a good life. It is their daily task to be hopeful with and for others as they adjust to the current reality. In the course of their duties they see poverty, discrimination, substandard housing and promises unfulfilled. They also see character, strength, achievement and success.
Home at the end of a tiring and satisfying day, I have promised one thing: Until I am told differently, I will assume, when I meet foreign born janitors and taxi drivers, that they are doctors or engineers or high court judges wearing a disguise. And because I won’t be certain of who they are, I will ask them, respectfully, about their lives and their work.

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