It’s a scene playing on repeat across high school, college and university campuses this June: families taking pictures of their graduates with pride.
Homayra Ahmed hit the grounds of McMaster University this week to celebrate her achievements as one of the recent grads of the nursing program.
“I can’t even believe it,” Ahmed’s mother, Mahfuza Akther, said through tears.
The journey for Ahmed to get to this point has not been easy. She is the eldest of four girls, whose parents immigrated to Canada from Bangladesh. Home has not always been a safe place.
“Throughout my childhood, I was a victim of domestic abuse,” said Ahmed. “So that’s one of the reasons in my third year of nursing I had to flee my home.”
Along with her mother and three sisters, they all left their home in Hamilton, Ont. They had nowhere to go, with the majority of close relatives living in the U.S.
For a few days, Ahmed slept in the library which was open 24/7 because of exams. Her mother and sisters split up and stayed with friends for a short period of time.
Get breaking National news
Eventually, Ahmed reached out to the school for help. Some emergency grants paid for a short stay in a hotel, but that money quickly ran out. So the family turned to the shelter system, even though they were told there was no room. They ended up at Martha’s House.
“We just grabbed all our luggage, and we sat outside the shelter,” Ahmed recalled. “They had to put us into the kitchen, so we all slept in the kitchen. That night I actually went to clinical at 5 a.m.” Clinical refers to the hands-on experience nursing students need to complete in order to pass.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and everything was made even more difficult. Simply trying to attend online class proved to be a struggle.
“Everyone was using the same internet so Zoom would cut in and out all the time. My grades suffered because of attendance,” said Ahmed. “And there was a lot of invasion of privacy too. How was I supposed to turn on my camera? I didn’t want anyone to know I was living in a shelter.”
Plus time at the shelter was running out. The family would regularly meet with staff there to discuss housing options. Ahmed often acted as an interpreter for her mother. But with little money and few job opportunities, Ahmed said everything felt impossible.
“Finally one day they said, ‘Now you have to move into market.’ My mom didn’t have a job. I had to look for some jobs just to make up for the rent,” she said.
Ahmed said at one point she had three part-time jobs, in addition to school and trying to find a place for her family to live. It all became too much — she ended up in hospital because of the stress.
Still, she persevered. Eventually, the family found housing, and now, Ahmed has completed her nursing degree.
She still has to pass a final exam in order to be officially considered a nurse, but given the need for front-line staff, Ahmed has already secured a job at a hospital under the provincial emergency orders.
Some days Ahmed said she doesn’t know how she was able to manage. She said the one thing that kept her going was her desire to create a better life for her family.
“My motivation was my sisters,” said Ahmed. “Looking at them, anything I’m going through, if they don’t have to go through that then I’ll take it on.”
Comments