http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/a-community-centre-born-of-tragedy-137551303.html
Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
A community centre born of tragedy
By: Aldo Santin
Posted: 01/18/2012 1:00 AM |
Last Modified: 01/18/2012 9:01 AM | Updates
PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Enlarge
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Students work with tutors in the community centre.
THREE times a week, the sound of children fills the downtown community
centre of the Eritrean community.
Tutors work with children of refugee families, many of them who spent years
in camps in Africa without formal schooling.
The program is one of several run by the Eritrean Community In Winnipeg
Inc., which helps newcomers adjust to Canadian culture, language and life
in Winnipeg. Immigrant communities often run similar programs, but the
adoption of these programs was the direct result of a horrific and bloody
tragedy -- the shooting death in August 2007 of 14-year-old Sirak "Shaggy"
Okbazion, who had moved to Winnipeg with his family four years before.
"Everything we have done was a direct response to Sirak's death and how he
came to die," Lambros Kyriakakos, president of the Eritrean centre, said.
The Okbazion family came to Winnipeg in 2000, sponsored by the First
Mennonite Church. They were refugees from war-ravaged Eritrea, looking for
a fresh start after years in a Kenyan refugee camp.
Rezene Okbazion, then 34, his wife, Hiriti, 30, and their two young
children, Sirak, 10, and his sister, Segen, 4, lived in a small apartment
off Logan Avenue.
Shaggy's life ended in the dark, early hours of Aug. 27, 2007 on Sherbrook
Street -- and his family fell into a nightmare.
Police found his body beside a garbage bin on Sherbrook Street. He'd been
shot and bled to death. Shaggy had fallen in with a group of teenage boys
who were members of the Mad Cowz, a street gang fighting to control the
drug trade in the downtown and West End. Shaggy wasn't a formal member of
the Mad Cowz, but he hung out with them.
Kyriakakos said Shaggy's death shook the Eritrean and African communities
to their core.
"Everybody was aware if it could happen (to the Okbazion family), it could
happen to them. We didn't want it to happen again."
Kyriakakos said while western media are preoccupied with the wars that have
ravaged many African countries, life in most African communities has a
strong communal, social but conservative attitude, where all adults look
out for the interests of everyone's children.
When they arrive in Winnipeg, they find their non-African neighbours don't
want to know them and care little for their children.
The Eritrean group devised several programs to bridge this culture gap for
both the parents and families, including English-language classes, driving
lessons, support for single mothers and government and non-government
resources.
aldo.santin_at_freepress.mb.ca
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 18, 2012 A4
*Programs put in place by the local Eritrean community in response to the
gang shooting death of 14-year-old Sirak "Shaggy" Okbazion in August 2004:*
After-school tutoring
Family mentoring
Eritrean language and cultural awareness
Parenting classes
Free loan of traditional cooking utensils
Eritrean Artists Video project
Eritrean Photography project
Enhanced community social activities
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Received on Fri Feb 03 2012 - 21:26:35 EST
