By Eric Laimer

Developing a career can be a long winding road. Student placements are often some of the exciting stops along the way. For Stella Otang, her current student placement with Community Living Toronto is just such a stop along a journey that started back in her birth country of Cameroon, Africa.

Cameroon is sometimes referred to as “Africa in miniature” because of its geological and cultural diversity. While Cameroon has over 200 different linguistic groups, the two official languages are English and French. There are eight French speaking provinces and Stella is from one of the two English speaking provinces.

Stella’s long career journey started with accounting; which she studied after high school. She was unable to find steady work in accounting and began studies related to Early Childhood education. Stella was also a political activist in Cameroon. Some of her publicly expressed views fell out of favour with the government at that time. To escape that pressure, she came to Canada by herself in November 2007 and was accepted as a political refugee.  As Stella stated, “In Canada, people here have rights. You can carry a sign in public to show your political views. In Cameroon, people don’t have their rights.”

Adjusting to a new country and culture was difficult in the beginning. Fortunately, Stella was able to meet some people from Cameroon including a family that she developed a close connection with. She considers them to be her extended family. As a political refugee many of the supports that Stella was receiving were temporary. Becoming a permanent Canadian resident in 2011 was a turning point and helped create the start of a stable living situation for Stella. Soon after, she started taking post-secondary courses to get her career back on track.

Stella took one semester of equivalency courses at Emery Collegiate Institute in Etobicoke to match her schooling from Cameroon to what is taught in Canadian schools. She also added a Saturday course at Humber College in English equivalency. This amounted to six days of schooling per week! In addition to school, she now had a son and all the responsibilities of being a parent!

While Stella had a background in accounting, her passion lay elsewhere. When her son was born, he appeared behind in some developmental milestones including speech and language. He also exhibited behavior that she found unusual and difficult to understand. This was initially devastating for Stella and she became depressed. However, this motivated her to learn more about early childhood studies and intellectual disability.

With her school equivalency courses completed in one year, Stella enrolled in the Advanced Studies in Special Needs program at Humber College. The six semester course included two field placements at a service agency. Stella enjoyed her first student placement at MacAulay Child Development Centre.

Now in to her second student placement, Stella is gaining valuable experience in Early Childhood Services here in Etobicoke/York region at Community Living Toronto. As part of her placement, she is shadowing Nicole McDowell over the course of her typical working day as a Resource Teacher. There is something new and exciting to learn every day. Stella particularly enjoys learning how Nicole develops a working relationship and trust with a new child assigned to her at a daycare. “I’m learning new strategies in how to create a bond with a child. Otherwise, you can’t really support them,” she stated.

While her studies will hopefully lead to a fulfilling career, Stella has also learned to better understand the needs of her son. He is currently in grade one and faces challenges. Her improved knowledge of Identification Placement and Review Committee (IPRC) meetings and other supports used in school has allowed her to better advocate for her son.

Soon Stella will be looking for work as she is in the last semester of her course. When asked what her dream job would be, she puts practicality first, “I have little job experience in early childhood services so I will take whatever I can get to start.” she responded. However there is the hope that she will one day become an Early Childhood Consultant. Stella is an inspiring person and she has the drive, passion and patience to make that dream come true.

Upcoming Etobicoke Events

Tri-Hards Bowling

March 14^th & 28^th

April 11^th & 25th

Etobicoke Region Council’s Seventh Annual Easy Roller Bowlathon

Saturday April 18^th, 2015

5:00 to 8:00 pm.

Bowlerama West

5429 Dundas Street West

(Just west of Kipling)

Space limited. Register by Friday April 10^th

Donations are needed for prizes and silent auction!

Etobicoke/ York Region Council

Lunch To Go Fundraiser

 Chili, Samosas, Cabbage Rolls, Delicious Desserts, and more!

Priced From $1 to $10.

Wednesday, March 11^th, 2015

11 am to 1:30pm

Etobicoke/York Region Office

295 The West Mall, Suite 204

For more information on any of these events, contact:

Eric Laimer

647-729-0445 or elaimer@cltoronto.ca