Spring is Here! - Multicultural Association of the Greater Moncton Area

MAGMA-AMGM
Volume 1, Issue 2
April 14 2011
Spring is Here!
Haiti Fundraiser Still Warming Hearts
In partnership with Advocate Printing, MAGMA
presented BIG BANDS,
BIG HEARTS: Metro
Moncton’s Multicultural
Community Unites in Support of Haitian Relief on
February 10th. More than
1000 dollars was raised.
The funds went directly to
the Children’s Choir, La
voix des Orchidées in
Haiti for the construction
and furnishing of a new
vocational school in Rivière
Froide, Haiti. This new
facility will be dedicated to
the memory of Sgt. Mark
Gallagher. Mark Gallagher
was a dear friend of our
Executive Director,
Lorraine LeClair. Sadly, he
passed away in the earthquake that struck Haiti last
January. Many staff,
board members, volunteers
and the public participated
in this event. The entertainment featured over 70
artists and included performances by the Codiac
Concert Band, the 8th Hus-
sars Pipes and Drums, the Hub City Big Band,
the Haiti Choir and the Codiac RCMP Pipes and
Drums. It was a great event for a great cause.
Lorraine LeClair, Executive
Director of
MAGMA and
Khalid Badrezzamane, employee of
MAGMA dancing to the great
beats of Hub
City Big Bang
during the Haiti
Fundraiser
“Along with fitness and recreation this program brought laughter and joy to all the newcomer children.”
During the month of February and March, MAGMA
newcomer children had the
opportunity to learn how to
skate at the Jean-Louis
Levesque Arena at l’Université de Moncton. They
were coached by players
from the Aigles Bleu (es)
hockey teams and MAGMA
volunteers on the ice. They
had the opportunity to
learn firsthand from these
experts. A partnership
between MAGMA, the Boys
and Girls Club and with the
collaboration of the Community Involvement Program with Social Development created this opportu-
Newcomer Children Find Solid Feet on Ice
nity. The goal of this project was of course to give
newcomer children a chance
to learn a favourite Canadian past time ice skating.
Below are Zainatu, 9 with
her brother Abdul 15 &
MAGMA and the Boys and
sister Mamawa 6
Girls Club held a very successful skate drive before
the program began. The
community responded generously. There were enough
skates for all 40 participants. Along with fitness
and recreation this program
brought laughter and joy to
all the newcomer children.
Organizers of the program from left
to right: Derrick Beardsworth, Director of Programs and Services from
the Moncton Boys & Girls Club and
Julie Flynn, Founder of this program
and also School & Youth Coordinator
at MAGMA
MAGMA’s Volunteer Appreciation Night
Caption describing picture or graphic.
From left to right: Hamid Ait Zenou
(MAGMA volunteer) and the President of
MAGMA Mike Timani
“Volunteers not only give their time,
they share their hearts” was the theme of this wonderful event. Was it
ever a special night for volunteers,
board members and staff that attended! On February 16th, MAGMA celebrated and thanked all of its volunteers for the hard work and the many
hours that they contribute helping
newcomers in the Greater Moncton
Area.
While enjoying a great meal and indulging in the candy buffet, volunteers
were recognized with a thank you gift
presented by MAGMA President Mike
Timani and Executive Director, Lorraine LeClair. Guest Speaker Zane
Korytko, CEO of YMCA Moncton, topped the night off with a moving talk
on the importance of volunteers including anecdotes about his family
arriving years ago from Ukraine and
the people who helped them. As well
as he spoke about the impact of volunteers on the success of an organization. Overall, it was a great evening of fun and recognition for each
and every one of our special volunteers.
“Volunteers not only give their time, they share their hearts”
University of Moncton Students Acting As MentorSoirée d’appréciation des
Twenty-three kinesiology and recreology students from l’Université of
Moncton volunteered their time to
participate in the Peer Mentorship
Program initiative launched by the
MAGMA’s Community Youth Engagement Coordinator and the Community Connections Coordinator. Newcomer youth were matched
with university students to participate in winter activities such as
snow-shoeing, cross country skiing,
sliding, and skating. Twenty newcom-
ers took part in the program. It was
extremely successful as the univer-
sity students were outstanding role
models to the newcomers particularly
for newcomer youth who are considering pursuing post-secondary education.
This project enabled them to get information first hand from university students about programs offered by postsecondary institutions in New Brunswick. Special thanks goes to Professor
Roger G. Leblanc from l’École de kinesiologie et récréologie from l’Université
de Moncton who worked with MAGMA
to make this initiative become a reality.
Stormy Outside But A Warm Party Inside
On February 25th, MAGMA clients
and staff were in the audience at the
Memeza Africa concert at the Riverview Arts Centre. Not even a blizzard
could stop clients and staff from enjoying this wonderful night of music.
The performers were 26 different
artists from South Africa who
danced and sang in various African
languages including Swahili.
Page 2
“The show was very exotic, entertaining and high energy”. The ''Mating''
dance was especially spectacular. It
was the finale and all of our African
students jumped on the stage to join
in. It was a spectacular moment. The
students continued singing '' Malayka' in the hallway after the show.
They were in no hurry to go home.
Memeza Africa group who are on a Canada
wide tour stopped in Riverview
Spring is Here!
A Very Sweet Day
On March 31st, the MAGMA language
classes ventured out to the city limits
to visit the Trites Family Sugar Bush
in Stilesville, just off the Gorge Road
in Moncton. For many students, it
was their first time learning how maple syrup and other maple goodies are
made. It was a beautiful sunny day,
and the temperature was perfect for
sap to flow, coming through a labyrinth of tubing down into the sugar
camps. The students sauntered
slowly through the woods. They were
delighted to be in such a beautiful
place on a beautiful day.
After arriving at the Trites Family’s
rustic camp, the students sat inside
the beautiful old cookhouse to sink
their teeth into food that has become
synonymous with Canadian culture…
pancakes with maple syrup, sausage,
and homemade baked beans cooked
with just a touch of maple syrup. The
students were unanimous that they
had just had one of the most delicious
breakfasts that they’d ever had. For
dessert, everyone was treated to maple taffy that they rolled off the
cold, compacted snow themselves.
Everyone thought this was a very
sweet class.
To the Island We Go!
Newcomer youth from eight countries
took part in a trip to Prince Edward
Island accompanied by MAGMA’s
School and Youth Coordinator and the
Community Youth Engagement Coordinator. The young newcomer men and
women ranged from 14 to 23 years of
age and come from Sierra Leone,
Congo, Bolivia, Burma, Columbia and
Zambia.
The youth learned about the history
of PEI, the main resources of the
province and, of course, the Confederation Bridge the second longest
bridge in the world. They also had the
chance to participate in many exciting
activities on the island such as snow
tubing, sleigh ride, a sugar shack outing
and a visit to a windmill.
“PEI was a great opportunity for newcomer youth to socialize and learn about this great little Island.”
Below, Carlo DiBonaventura our Community Youth Engagement
Coordinator with a Youth tubing in PEI on a bright sunny day.
Above, MAGMA Youth with Julie Flynn our Youth and School
Coordinator at MAGMA beside the Confederation Bridge
Volume 1, Issue 2
Page 3
Childminding Centre
The Children in MAGMA’s Childminding Centre while May Kim
reads a story to the group.
Following two visits to the
Family Resource Centre last
fall, our Childminding Centre hosted a special event
on March 22 here at
MAGMA. In partnership
with the Family Resource
Centre, Canadian families
and newcomer families were
able to mingle in a playful
atmosphere. Dami’s
mother, May Kim, kindly
agreed to read a children’s
story in Korean to the
group. Together, we celebrated nutrition month with
a tasty healthy snack. The
children also had a chance
to play together. This, we
hope, will be the beginning
of a ongoing partnership as
we fervently wish to develop
a stronger bond between
the young children in our
community and the newcomers. We desire creating opportunities to foster acceptance of diversity in younger
children in order to promote
a smoother integration for
the newcomer families
within their host communities. All families in our community are invited to join us
on April 14 at 9:30am for
another fun-filled morning
in our centre at MAGMA.
“We saw a wonderful camaraderie develop among the new curlers.”
Newcomers from MAGMA have enjoyed learning to curl this season.
Thanks to the fine volunteer coaches
at MCA Horace Constable, Don Melanson, Dan MacPherson, Monique Melanson, Harold Smallwood and Ray Brown.
Over the 12 weeks these volunteers
put in many hours to insure the quality of the experience for these first
time curlers. Their warm welcome
and their patience with the newcomers was appreciated. We also appreciated their good humour and hospitality. The hot chocolate and conversation off the ice was an added bonus
for all of us.
A total of 48 newcomers from 33 different countries attending language
classes, Conversation Circle as well as
the Youth Engagement program had a
great time learning to curl. We saw a
wonderful camaraderie develop among
the new curlers. How fabulous to see
MCA Curling For MAGMA Students
students from France, South Korea
and Tunisia curling against a team
with members from Vietnam, Myanmar and China. The mission was curling but the spin offs were fun,
friendship, physical activity and language practice both in French and
English.
As language teachers we encourage
our newcomer students to find ways
to enjoy our long, cold winters. Many
in the group embraced curling. We
watched their curling skills improve
and enthusiasm blossom. Some students did not participate for various
reasons but they still turned up at
the club to watch their classmates
and enjoy a game of Scrabble. MCA is
a very comfortable
Everyone’s Right to Play Ultimate Frisbee at l’Université de Moncton
A MAGMA client and a Right to Play volunteer at the Ultimate
Frisbee tournament at l’UdeM
Ten of MAGMA’s most athletic clients participated in
the Right to Play Ultimate
Frisbee tournament that was
held at l’Université de Moncton on April 1st. This was
the 5th Annual Right to Play
Ultimate Frisbee at l’UdeM
which began in 2007. This
initiative was created by
UdeM students in order to
raise both money and awareness for Right to Play Canada. Thirty-two teams from
across the province partici-
pated this year alone. It was
the first appearance for
MAGMA at Right to Play Ultimate Frisbee Université de
MOncton, but that did not
stop our MAGMA clients from
winning their first 3 matches.
The most amazing part of
their success is that for all
our team members, it was
their debut playing ultimate
Frisbee and participating in a
tournament. Way to go Team
MAGMA!
Fun On the Slopes For MAGMA Students At Poley Mountain
Students from CLIC and LINC
classes had the opportunity to
learn how to ski on March 15th at
Poley Mountain in Sussex. It was
a fun filled day with laughter and
joy. Thirty-one students and six
staff participated. We could not
have asked for better sunny skiing conditions!
In this picture we have Bocharie from childmining
learning how to ski for the first time, sun of Isatta
a MAGMA student
Thank you for Donations
The Multicultural Association of the
Greater Moncton Area would like to
thank area companies for their recent
generous donations. A special thanks
to Royal Bank, Scotia Bank, UPS and
Blue Cross for their kind gestures.
MAGMA Success Story: Huy Van Vo, PhD.
Address: 150 Queen St,
Moncton NB, E1C 1K8
Tel: (506) 858-9659
MAGMA’s mission is to enrich and
enhance the well being of our community
by fostering and nurturing respect,
understanding, acceptance of and
assisting people from all heritages.
For readers who would like more
information about MAGMA and this
newsletter, you may contact us by email
or phone.
Visit us at www.magma-amgm.org
BYE BYE Mélanie :(
I thought it would be appropriate to
right a little something about my experience working at MAGMA.
First and foremost, employees at
MAGMA were so welcoming when I
began my journey as the Host/
Volunteer Coordinator and they made
me feel right at home from the first
day. The atmosphere at MAGMA reflex a feeling of warmth, joy and acceptance of all ages, cultures, religions
and so forth. I have loved working
with newcomers and have learned so
much from them, their experiences
elsewhere and also their new experiences in the Greater Moncton Area.
Developing partnerships between newcomers and Canadian volunteer and
seeing how each relationship grew
made me feel so good
about this job. I hope
the individual that replaces me in this position
gets as much joy out of
Huy Van Vo arrived in Canada in April of 2010 as a provincial nominee. Shortly
afterward he began looking for employment in his field. He had earned his doctorate in Information Management from an American university, so he was surprised at some of the barriers to employment he was faced with. The experience didn’t match with the expectation of the employers in Canada; employers
were looking for Canadian experience and had concerns about his language
abilities. He felt disadvantaged when competing with local candidates.
Huy came to MAGMA and was referred to its New Brunswick Employment Language Training program or NBELT. As part of the program he took a variety of
classes and seminars including Language for Work and Business and ePortfolio/Prior Learning and Recognition. While taking the program Huy actively implemented everything he learned and applied it to his career search
and his life. After applying for a number of positions in academia, he was encouraged to apply for a position related to his background in information technology, drawing on his transferable skills and applying them in a Canadian context.
Three months after completion of the program, Huy accepted an offer as the
Infrastructure Project Manager at Spielo, one of North America’s leading employers. Huy realized that much of what he learned from NBELT contributed
to his success. He attributes his success to the information, advice, and encouragement he received. Huy believes that it is essential to have people to
provide encouragement and to give practical advice just as the MAGMA Employment team has done for him.
seeing those happy smiles on
each newcomer’s face as I had
when matching them with Canadian volunteers. In summary,
this humble experience has
made me well aware of how we
can cherish all the cultural differences and how newcomers
can bring amazing aspects to
the Greater Moncton Area. I
will sadly miss working at
MAGMA, but will certainly try
to volunteer on weekends when
not in Fredericton.
Thank You MAGMA Funders
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
City of Moncton
Canadian Heritage
New Brunswick Multicultural Council Inc.
Ville de Dieppe
South East Reginal Adult Learning Centre
Province of New Brunswick
Town of Riverview