Hello! My name is Aluel. I came to Canada in the year 2003 from Sudan. I was only 26 years old. At the beginning I stayed home and took care of my children. Then I started doing small jobs here and there. I could not get a decent job because of my lack of education. Even though I went to school in Sudan, I really did not have much education because of the situation of the country. They had a long war and it was not safe to leave the house a lot of the time. We had to move to be safe all the time. I did not know anything.
When I moved to Edmonton, I decided to do my upgrading. I went to the open house at NorQuest. There they told me about P.A.L.S.
When I came to P.A.L.S. I did not have any specific goals. All I knew is that I just watch my little children when they do their math, and cannot help them because I have never done math here or back in my home country. I walked into P.A.L.S. feeling very nervous. I was nervous wondering if they would help me. I wanted to learn, but was not sure if this was the place, or if they would accept me into their programs. I did not realize that I would be helped in so many ways. I was accepted in both the Math and the LELL program. I am now learning math and English, both of which are important and will help me with my future goal. I was greeted with great smiles, friendly and helpful staff.
When I come to P.A.L.S. I feel like I have come home. There is so much to learn every day. I have changed a lot. I now read papers that my children bring home from school. I can read and explain them to my children. I can also help them with their math homework. My self‑confidence has gone up and now I have registered myself for the Health Care Aide Program with another institution.
Because I got the help from P.A.L.S. I know now that I can do it and what I want to do.
I always tell the people I know that “if you want to change your life, join the P.A.L.S. program.” Since I have joined P.A.L.S. I have been learning and growing. I want to thank my tutors Betty and Nadia for bringing me this far. I also want to thank everyone else who support P.A.L.S. in everything they do.