Revamped Welcome to Brandon program ‘useful’ to newcomers

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This article was published 19/08/2015 (3896 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Gerard Andaya and his family left their home in the Philippines to start a new life on the other side of the globe.

The Andayas arrived in Brandon just two weeks ago, and are still getting accustomed to their new city, province and country.

“It’s a very exciting time of adjustment,” Gerard said.

Gerard and his wife, Maria Luisa Andaya, signed up for the Welcome to Brandon program offered through Westman Immigrant Services, to learn how to navigate through their new city.

“I’ve learned a lot recently regarding … general information,” Gerard said. “Information on … settling here, finding a job and all the rules, regulations, licensing bodies, the law — all about the law.”

The Andayas chose Brandon to be close to Gerard’s brother, a registered nurse in Brandon. Back in the Philippines, Gerard also worked as a nurse and his goal is to continue his career in Canada.

“It’s a long process to do that,” he said, adding he will look for other work until his nursing certifications are approved.

“What I am trying to do now is find work that will … support our daily needs first before prioritizing my career,” he said.

The Andayas, who have a daughter and a son, have been attending the free newcomer program daily to learn as much as possible.

“Actually, it’s very useful as first-time immigrants, so we can have that general overview on what Brandon is,” Gerard said. “We expect to learn additional information … for us to be able to settle successfully as an immigrant here and try to live our lives here.”

The Welcome to Brandon program recently went through a revamp. Last month, the settlement facilitators took over the program, and made some changes, such as removing the English language component and adding translators for every class.

Naty Delbridge, a settlement facilitator who has been co-ordinating the program, said adding the daily interpreters in a variety of languages has been a welcome addition.

“If you see all the evaluation … they’re all thankful,” she said. “Because how else would they understand the information that is given to them?”

Swati Vaiday provides interpreting services in Hindi and Gujarati.

“It’s really important learning about the Canadian culture, Canadian living, everyday life, what’s going on in the city, what are the organizations, so much information they get in one place,” she said.

WIS offers separate English classes for newcomers as well.

The current Welcome to Brandon program is in its second week, with 19 people participating from five different countries — the Philippines, Honduras, India, Ethiopia and Denmark.

The other major change to the program is that they have a goal of offering it every month, year-round. Previously, it was held when enough registrations came in.

“Even if the newcomers are not here, we would still offer it for the people that have been here longer because I would find that a lot of people do not know a lot of information,” Delbridge said. “For example, employment standards. They come in and do the presentation and talk about wages, and their rights and things like that.”

Classes are 2.5 hours daily, Monday to Friday for two-weeks. Guests present on Canadian law, employment standards, banking, healthy living, culture shock and adaptation, volunteer opportunities, education, road safety among others.

“We also have (Manitoba Public Insurance) come and talk about licensing, how to switch their licence from their country to Manitoba licence and how the process works with that,” Delbridge said.

Tours of the city are also a part of the program.

“They visit the fire hall, they visit the police station, they go to the community gardens … Discovery Centre, library,” Delbridge said.

Once this program is completed, newcomers are given an appointment time for an English language assessment and are able to begin English language classes.

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