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The teenage boy was standing on our neighbor’s driveway watching as I was finishing mowing my lawn. He had only been out there a few minutes and I hadn’t made eye contact yet. As I turned the mower off, I looked over and greeted him and he returned the greeting with a smile and said “I have never seen that before”. When I looked puzzled he explained he was from Lima, Peru. Where he grew up no one lived in such big spaces with grass. Our conversation continued on the driveway. He had been here for two months, living with his older sister and her young family who were visiting our neighbor who also has small children. I asked if he was looking to get a break from the kids and he laughed. So I invited him into the back yard and offered him a pop.

As we continued talking I found out that he recently received his visa so he could start school, and look for work and start a life in this great country, and he was full of hope. I mentioned how good his English was and he blushed, he said he had been working very hard to learn it before he came here, that his sister told him how important it was that he learn. Lima was a dangerous place to live, he told me, and that he wanted to make his life here, he was starting his studies in November and he had been taking his resume to places for work while he was in school.

I thought back of my own emigration to Canada, many years ago and how different the circumstances were. I chose to come to Canada because the man I was marrying was living here. I spoke English, had a home and a job lined up as soon as my Visa went through.  My dreams included the family that we have become and I am aware of how blessed I was when I moved here. It’s never easy to leave home, to find a place that will accept you, that allows you to become the person you are capable of being. You leave the people you love behind, and try and find others that you will grow to love. That is only part of the challenge.

I know of so many stories of people coming to a new country, believing that there is a better life ahead of them and full of confidence, yet with fear of the unknown, and a belief that they must find their way in the newness of their world. We laughed when we talked about the climate and he zipped his jacket up further. Yes it is colder here.  I enjoyed his company that afternoon, hearing him talk about his country Peru, but mostly about his dreams in Canada. Yes, he missed his mother, who he left behind, and I thought of my own children and their dreams of their future away from me.  Many of us have dreams that will take us away from what is familiar. Some have to leave for their own safety, and freedom, they don’t have the choice of where they want to go they just need to find someplace that will accept them and give them hope.

His sister called his name and said they should go, so he thanked me for the drink and shook my hand. I told him he had to do one last thing before he left, so I jumped up and put the lawn mower in front of him.  He smiled as I showed him how to start it and continued smiling as he pulled the line and pushed it on the grass a few feet. He left with his sister and I smiled, wishing him in my heart all the best for this new immigrant and the same opportunities that I have had in this great country.