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'E' is for empowerment

Squamish South Asian Seniors Women's Program making a difference
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For all the years she worked at a Squamish laundromat, Jagdev Dhaliwal had to plead with her coworkers to tell her what the tags on the clothes said.

In English, to Dhaliwal the words were just a jumble of symbols. Everyday she worried about getting help to understand them as the words explained which hotel each piece of clothing came from.

Then, someone introduced her to the South Asian Seniors Women's Program run by Gurjit Johal and Robin Garland.

The program gave her a tool of empowerment: the English alphabet. It took time to learn the letters, but slowly Dhaliwal started sorting out the laundry from hotels without bothering her co-workers. Now she knows the laundry marked AAVA hotel in Whistler has three A's and one V.

Such snippets of empowerment - a job secured, labels understood at grocery stores or at work - are what keep Johal and Garland committed to the program, despite ongoing funding challenges.

But teaching English to senior South Asian women isn't the program's only goal. For the 15 women that attend it, the program opens a window to the town, the province, even the country.

Besides the two-hour English speaking and learning sessions, those who attend the program also get to see the region. Last year, they went to Nanaimo, a ferry ride that was a first for many women.

Recently, they also visited the RCMP station, an unsettling experience for some women, as it's considered inappropriate for women to visit police stations in rural India.

"You could see the unease, but they broke down a barrier," said Johal. "Now, if they ever have to speak to a police officer again, it will be less intimidating."

All the participants are from the rural parts of North India's Punjab Province. And almost all of them, Johal said, experience intense cultural shock when they move to Canada. No shared language and culture, a sudden loss of community and a cloistered lifestyle (many serve as primary caregivers at home) can engender isolation, depression and fear.

"Living in an Indian village is like living in one big family," says Robin Garland, who recently visited that country with one of the participants, Malkeet Hayer.

"Then they are here and it's cold and pouring (rain) and that community feeling is gone and if you don't speak English, it can be quite isolating."

Adjusting to a new country can be a tough process for most immigrants, but seniors feel cultural alienation most acutely. A 2003 study done by a University of Alberta professor, Herbert C. Northcott, is telling.

Out of a group of 200 South Asian women he interviewed in Edmonton, 96 said they felt lonely and isolated in Canada. Loss of culture, status, and the sudden expectation of being the primary caregiver for their grandchildren can leave many seniors feeling helpless and depressed.

It has taken the women some time to warm up to Garland, who has learned a few words of Punjabi to break the language barrier. Initially, she said, the women found it difficult talking to her, but that has since changed.

Now, Garland and the women are slowly discovering that even without a shared language, it's possible to make a genuine connection.

"I feel a huge connection with them," she says of her friendship with senior women, "you should see the greetings that I get. They just smile and hug me whenever they meet me."

Ending that isolation is at the core of this program. And it all begins with A, B, C. At a recent session, Johal taught Dhaliwal to count in English, while another participant Charan Virk worked on a word puzzle. Next to her sat Jaswant Sidhu, writing her name over and again in English.

A desk away were Malkeet Hayer and Daljit Gill, their fingers tapping an Atlas as they discussed the fortunes of an African country with Garland.

The South Asian Seniors Women's program was established in 2007, two years after Johal noticed senior Punjabi women seemed to be enjoying the lessons she was giving to their grandkids as an English as a Second Language story-time teacher.

In talking to these women, Johal said, she realized they had little or no experience of Canada outside their homes. She planned the broad outlines of the program and started applying for funding, which she has received, in cash and kind, from Squamish Savings, Squamish Credit Union, Squamish Library and Greg Gardner Motors.

"I'd talk to these women and it was like talking to a little kid. They knew nothing about Canada," she says.

Now, along with an annual trip and lessons in English, they are also taught about Easter and Christmas and the reason for long-weekend holidays in Canada.

For Surjeet Dhindsa, the lessons learned in the group are proudly applied at home.

Recently, she managed to answer a short phone call in English. Startled, her granddaughter came running out of the other room.

"Grandma, what did you say? Did I just hear you speak English?" she asked

"Yes, that was English. You heard that right," Dhindsa said, her face aglow with a satisfied smile.