'We're a mini United Nations': How newcomer students at this Winnipeg school are finding their voices

On a bright, sub-zero Saturday in Winnipeg, Acadia Junior High School in the south-west end is surprisingly busy. Members of the jazz band mill around the halls after having just arrived home from a tour, and the gym is filled with raucous teens watching the much-anticipated basketball tournament.

Principal Troy Scott roams the hallways looking more like a student than an administrator wearing jeans and a shirt that says, "Acadia: Diversity is our strength."

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This neighbourhood is often the first stopping ground for newcomers. Scott says waves of refugees will settle in apartment buildings close by, changing the makeup of the school's population.

"There's been various times when we had a lot of Syrian refugees, right now there's a lot of Kurmanji speaking — northern Iraqi, Kurdish refugees," explains Scott.

Over 50 languages are spoken at Acadia where the majority of students, 56 per cent, are newcomers. Scott, who was recently named one of Canada's outstanding principals and is one of the youngest in the Pembina Trails School Division, says that number is slightly outdated and is most likely higher.

"We call ourselves a mini United Nations," Scott says.

Walking with him is 17-year-old, Nigerian-born Olu Afolabi, a former Acadia student who is now at Fort Richmond High School just 100 metres across the field.

They're both here on the weekend to talk about a program called Peaceful Village which is changing the lives of many of the students who are newcomers to Canada. The program is offered at Acadia and Fort Richmond, as well as four other Winnipeg schools.

Creating opportunities

Peaceful Village is an after school program where newcomer students spend half their time getting help with homework and the other half on a "passion project." These range from art, music, dance and poetry. Canadian-born students, who are invited as well, often participate as volunteers.

The program, which began in 2009 at Winnipeg's Gordon Bell High School aided by the Manitoba School Improvement Program, was conceived by Director Daniel Swaka, a Sudanese refugee.

Scott, along with Fort Richmond's Principal Lisa Boles, brought the program to the high school. The partnership between the schools allows the junior high students to attend Peaceful Village as well.

He explains that the "pillars of the program" are the "academics and numeracy, [and] their relationships and passion projects."

"A lot of the work that we do ... is it that we're creating opportunities for kids to be proud of their culture and be proud of Canadian culture," Scott says.

Finding a voice

Although Afolabi spoke English when he first came to Canada from Nigeria in Grade 6, the dialect posed a challenge for him.

"I couldn't understand my teachers. I felt like I was surrounded by strangers and I didn't fit in in any way."

Having played the drums since he was eight, Afolabi pushed through the language barrier by joining the jazz band in junior high.

"To play the instruments I play regardless of how I spoke, regardless of my accent, regardless of where I came from. We all started from the same point."

But it was in Grade 10, during a passion project session at the Peaceful Village Program, that Afolabi says he found his voice.

"I shared ... a piece I wrote when I was in Grade 8 about a crush I had, and that was the very first thing I had written," Afolabi remembers. "[The teacher] said, 'this is great.' We can give you the space to work and write. So that's where I began."

Now, Afolabi performs his spoken-word poetry regularly. He uses the program's monthly showcases — known as the Village Kitchen — to practice in front of an audience of students, teachers and parents.

"I talk a lot about what it's like to be a black child in North America, what it's like to be an outsider, what it's like to move from your country and be a new citizen. That is my way of expressing my experience to others, because I believe there's a lot of things we can learn, not just from text books, but from experiences we share with one another," he said.

"I use my voice — my language — to speak on behalf of those who can't. Those who don't have the voice yet."

Afolabi, whom Scott calls a "role model" for other students, will be attending the University of Manitoba next year, going into the Faculty of Education.

"There's a lot of things that people value in life and for me that is education," he says. "Not just in the sense of going to school ... but learning about the society you live in and teaching each other, not just through education, but through stories, through experiences."

Afolabi's original plan was to be a university professor, but he admits he's wavering on the idea because, he says: "I kind of like this public speaking."

"I have a lot to say," he smiles, adding, "If it were up to me, I would like to travel the world."