Ken and his wife Rebecca volunteer as a host couple with the Saskatoon Open Doors Society. Hosts meet with individuals or families from other nations in order to help with their transition to Canadian life and with gaining English proficiency. As well, Ken is involved with a multi-ethnic church called the House for all Nations, usually referred to simply as "the House."
Working with an older Karen couple helped Ken get a better appreciation for the challenges faced by refugees forced to leave their homes for an unfamiliar land, language and culture. Most elderly refugees will not be pursuing a career, but have lots of skills from their home cultures to share with both Canadians and younger members of their ethnic communities; for example, the Karen people are well known for the beautiful cloth they weave on "backstrap looms" and the shirts and bags and other items made from the material.
A few months ago, and after consulting with interested Canadians and the Karen community, Ken began working towards setting up a few of these simple looms at the House. The goal is to invite Karen people, like the lady he and his wife meet with, to make use of the looms while visiting with other Karen women, as well as English speakers. This activity would offer the opportunity for:
- a familiar activity to help deal with what must be a fairly severe culture shock.
- passing an important skill on to the younger generation.
- visiting with other Karen people.
- potentially earning some extra income by selling items made from the cloth.
- conversational English practice.
- and so on.
The response to this project has been very positive and Ken looks forward to the day when the looms will be in use.
