Homework club for Hamilton newcomer kids is jam-packed and growing

One afternoon last week in downtown Hamilton, elementary kids and preteens born in Somalia and elsewhere were asking for help spelling words connected to their favourite holidays and festivals like Eid and Ramadan:

"B-o-u-n-c-y c-a-s-t-l-e," came the help, provided by a volunteer.

"S-p-o-n-g-e B-o-b," was the answer given to another.

As many as 40 kids on Tuesdays and Thursdays come to the Immigrants Working Centre on Rebecca Street after school for help with their homework and to work on other reading and math skills.

It's called the Homework Circle and its numbers keep growing, organizers said, so much so they worry about being overwhelmed. They are anxiously anticipating a fundraiser in March that they hope will help them meet the rising demand.

Last week, the kids were filling out a survey about designed to assess their reading level, interest in various subjects and background.

Six-year-old Fartun grabbed the attention of a volunteer while she filled out her survey.

"So it asks, why is your favourite subject math? So why do you like math? Maybe because it's easy?" asked the volunteer, Frederick Mertz.

"Yeah, because it's easy," Fartun said.

"There you go, so you can write, 'It's easy," he said.

"But sometimes it's not," she said as she started writing.

'A lot of these parents are illiterate ... in their own native languages'

"We can hopefully bridge that gap between school and home. Because often a lot of the immigrants, their parents don't speak English," said Ann-Marie Anie, a teacher who is working with local nonprofit Empowerment Squared on the Homework Circle project.

"And on top of that a lot of these parents are illiterate as well in their own native languages," Anie said. "So putting a new language on top of that, English, it can be just an added stress."

When kids and their parents find out what the club can help them do, many are sold.

"It's not just exclusively newcomers," said Leo Johnson, founder and executive director of Empowerment Squared. "We have a lot of kids who come because they're struggling in school, period."

They're especially drawn in by success stories like this:

A student who came to Canada as a refugee from Congo started with the club in Grade 7, Johnson said, and last year graduated and became a nurse at Hamilton Health Sciences.

'When you grow up ... the first thing you have to know is math'

Zainab, an 8-year-old who who has lived in Somalia and Kenya, said she can often get help with easy assignments from her brother at home.

But when something is hard, she comes to the club for help.

Math is also her favourite subject, she said.

"I like math because that's important because when you grow up you want to be something like a teacher, like the first thing you have to know is math," she said."

Eight-year-old Sheikhnoor, who was born in Somalia and moved to Canada in 2013, said he comes to the club to get help with his printing.

"Because I print messy," he said.

'Our resources are really scarce'

Kids come to the Homework Circle through word of mouth. Johnson said the organization isn't really advertising the program – "on purpose."

"Because we've been worried about being overwhelmed – our resources are really scarce," Johnson said. "We are a small organization, but the group has been growing."'

The group already receives funding from the Hamilton Community Foundation. But Johnson hopes the organization's fundraiser in March will help make it possible for the program to keep growing.

kelly.bennett@cbc.ca | @kellyrbennett