My husband and I, along with our 5-year-old son immigrated to Canada in 1974. I was blessed to have 2 brothers who were already settled in Vancouver. I had been a stay at home mum and so it was an experience to enter the job market.
Our educational qualifications were just a piece of paper with not much market value. My husband and I picked up odd jobs to get started. My mother came over to visit and pushed me to get a “piece of paper” from Canada that would guarantee a better job. Since I always connected well with children and raising my own son was a rewarding experience, I decided to enroll in the Early Childhood Education program.
The next 25 years I worked with children ages birth to 5 years. In 2000 my sister in law, who was attending Faith Baptist Church, introduced the idea of offering some social programs to connect with our multicultural neighbourhood. Hence “New Hope” was born. Since most of the families had young children, and the concept of daycare was still new to them, it was a great idea to open a childcare that would meet an essential need for working parents.
On September 4, 2002, New Hope Out of School welcomed the first child. Since then we have welcomed and provided childcare to over 200 families. Having gained the parents trust and support we offered childcare to 3 to 5-year old’s when New Hope opened its doors to our licensed facility in 2011.
As of now we have 50 children in both our programs with 10 staff members. Our families represent a wide range of cultures and languages as do our staff. Our staff are fully qualified having current Criminal Record checks and valid First Aid certifications.
The transparency, sense of wonder, finding joy and amusement in little things has kept me in this rewarding yet challenging field. Each day is a different day, full of New Hope and amazement. I pray these precious values are not lost in this fast pace they are daily exposed to. I hope their childhood still has some innocence and simplicity.