Justine's story

Former resident Justine Nkurunziza speaks from the heart when she talks about her experience at Carty House. This photograph was taken at our gala this year. Around the same time, Justine was honoured to receive a Welcome Ambassador Award for creating a Whatsapp Burundi group to help newcomers like her. She arrived in Canada as a protected person in 2016. "When I came to seek asylum in Canada," Justine said, "I was welcomed in a small but nice hotel. But a hotel is a still a hotel! It is a lonely environment where you are left by yourself, with your dark memories all through the night.""There was no meal system, and I had never thought in my life that I could survive with a microwave! Three months in that hotel was too much!""Finally, I got a letter from my housing advisor and I was asked to move to a place called Carty House. I call it a home because for me it was a home. ... A nice room for every woman, a nice living room where the women meet and chat, a well equipped kitchen, a piano, a TV, computers and printers! Just to name a few of the facilities. Other shelters do not compare to Carty House! It is not a shelter! It is a warm and welcoming home."