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On this page, you'll find stories of Youth Network members' group and individual accomplishments and struggles. Do you have a story to share with the Youth Network? Email Cynthia Beaudry at cbeaudry [at] ccrweb [dot] ca.

Dugi Berisha, Lethbridge

Dugi Berisha is finishing his studies at the University of Lethbridge, majoring in Management and Social Responsibility. After volunteering with the Lethbridge Family Services -Immigrant Services (LFS) this past summer at a camp for immigrant and refugee youth, he became a CCR Youth Ambassador. Learn more

Munira Abukar, Toronto

Munira Abukar was born and raised within the walls of Toronto Community Housing. “It’s an overall great community,” she says. However “growing up in an underprivileged neighbourhood, you face extreme discrimination. I really do love my community and it is great to be a builder in this large structure of unity.”  The daughter of Somali immigrants, Munira finds passion not in herself, but in the strength of others: her parents, her older siblings and her Toronto community. “It is with their support that I have the passion to do what I love: giving back.” Learn more

Taro Hashimoto, Edmonton

Taro Hashimoto currently works with an aboriginal arts organization in Edmonton, Alberta and has been working with refugee youth in various community programs for the past 8 years.  He is connected to several local and regional committees and initiatives working for the success and well-being of refugee and immigrant youth, as well as all youth in the community. Learn more

Andrew Saa Gbongbor, Fredericton

Andrew S. Gbongbor (commonly known as Saa Andrew) is a Youth Facilitator at the Multicultural Association of Fredericton and a recent university graduate, having arrived as a refugee from Sierra Leone in 2004. He has seen many changes since then – having to find his own way as a newly-arrived refugee youth. Saa Andrew has a passion for sharing his own experience with others to “help them find their way. I know what they are going through.” Learn more

Daniet Kidane, Edmonton

Daniet Kidane is a twenty-year-old university student in Edmonton, Alberta.   She volunteers with many groups in Edmonton and is an active member of the CCR Youth Network.  Daniet and her family were deported from Ethiopia to Eritrea in 1998, during the Eritrea-Ethiopian War. They escaped the turmoil, sought refuge in Kenya, and were then sponsored to come to Canada in 2005. Learn more

Faiza Hargaaya, Winnipeg

Faiza Hargaaya is a busy person. Currently the Assistant Coordinator for after-school programs at the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba (IRCOM), Faiza is also a Winnipeg activist, an IRCOM ambassador and a spoken-word artist. Though IRCOM is a home for more than 60 refugee and immigrant families, it also provides community resource programs. Learn more