Footage on Mexicans Crossing the Border

So in this documentary we see  what Mexicans have to do in order to cross the border. This video shows that people from rural areas of Mexico want to be part of the "American Dream". All they want to do is work in order to send money to their family and be able to have a better life.These people have to walk for days in order to cross the border and just for that they risk their live's by entering wild areas where aggressive animals leave.  

Famine in the "horn" of Africa

This British news channel basically talks about what people have to go through because of the famine, specially kids. In this video children are the ones that suffer the most because they can't get anything to eat and some of them unfortunately have to die. This problem is currently happening in the "horn" of Africa, which includes Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya, but the most affected country is Somalia, and therefore, they have to leave their countries by foot usually; however, sometimes people die on the journey.

Experience interviewing my father.

I would consider that interviewing my father for our previous project was a great experience. Some of the families now days aren't very close to each other and by saying this I don't mean that parents and their children are in constant conflict with their families. There are many people that have communication with their families, members of the family know what happens to each other; however, it does not mean that that all of the members of the family are close to each other and by saying close, I mean that not everyone knows what someone's mom or dad is going through right now, no everyone knows if they are happy, sad, angry, worried. This could also happen vice versa, however, parents usually know what is going on with their children and if they don't really notice anything that's probably because there is a big familiar disconnection.

In my case, the relationship between my family and I is the type of relationship where there is communication all the time; however, all the things that I know or each member shares are all superficial situation, there is no detail.  I did not pay attention to what my father was going through or what he has been experiencing throughout the six years my family and I have been in Canada. This interview helped me understand my father from a different perspective and helped get closer to him and not just have communication with him. Also, this interview made me realize that it is very important to sometimes make extra time for the people we love, sit down and converse with them to truly know how they feel and understand certain types of behaviours they might acquire due their situation. Sometimes members of the family want to express what they feel, but because we sometimes unconsciously show that we don't care about their lives, they repress their feelings and sometimes repression may cause stress and depression, which can also lead to grave situations such as psychosomatic illnesses.

Coming to Canada

My name is Francisco and I came with my family to Toronto, Canada in December 3, 2005. There were three main reasons that moved  to Canada; the first and most important one was because my father, a university professor at that time, was being chased by the government because he was the head of a syndicate that benefited teachers rights, but because it didn't benefit the government, the government wanted to kill him. So we came here finding Canadian asylum. The second reason that moved us was because my parents wanted my siblings and I to study in a first world country so that if any of us decides to move out of the country again, we won't have any trouble getting a job. And the third reason was for my father to get better job opportunities (which he didn't really need).


For me coming here was a very radical change in every aspect: language, weather, food, customs, life style, etc. I came in a season 180 degrees different to the season I was living in Mexico, my homeland, over there the winter  temperature was between 25 C and 30 C and I arrived to Canada when the temperature was below 0 C. I remember I had to wear two jackets because one was not enough to keep me warm, all I wanted to do was stay at home and do nothing which at the same time was a little depressing. A week after I arrived, my father took me to a high school that was 3 blocks away from my house and enrolled me there. School was the last place I wanted be for the first year because I didn't know English and I felt like a mute and deft person. It was frustrating because I wasn't able to express myself the way I wanted, I could not make friends because I couldn't speak and because others wanted to be cool and not talk to the ESL people, the "dumb ones", and I couldn't make friends that spoke the same language because most of them did things that were against the values taught by my parents. I used to not like the life style people had, always rushing, always acting as if it was day of their lives and they had to everything that they could for the last time, but on the other hand made things seem in order and punctual. With food, I never had a problem, I've always loved McDonald's, Subway, and I learned to love Wendy's and Tim Horton's (we didn't have those in Mexico).


I remember I started interacting more with people during the summer because I would go to the park to play soccer, to play soccer you don't really need an extense lexicon, the only words I'd use were "here" and "pass". It was then that my life was coming out of the darkness, of that anonymity. When school started again, life wasn't as bad  because my English had gotten better and now I could speak and understand more and for some reason I felt a little motivated; I joined the school's soccer team, I joined the art club, and focused more in school but still had trouble getting used to not being with my grand parents, uncles, aunts, cousins and friends. It took me approximately three years to get used to this country, to the life style, weather, customs and not being close to my relatives, but now I feel like I'm from here because even though I still have some of my homeland's values, I've learned many more here.

CHALLENGES THAT IMMIGRANTS MAY FACE WHEN THEY MOVE TO A NEW NATION

There are different reasons that compel emigration from a homeland to a new nation.
Thousands of immigrants arrive to different parts of the world for different purposes. Some of this immigrants emigrate in search of higher economical earnings, some emigrate in order to reunite with their family, others because they are being persecuted and have no option but to leave their homeland, and others move with the purpose of finding freedom from either religion or political issues.


Whether good or not the purpose of becoming a new immigrant might be, every immigrant experiences challenges or difficulties such as learning about a new culture, survive in a new environment, handle conflicts between homeland and current residence, economic status, adjusting to new weather conditions if the homeland's weather is different, and one of the most important challenges, the language. Sometimes, even if the new immigrant knows the language, he or she has to experience different challenges like learning about a new culture, economic status, etc.