Few Services To Ease Path Of Immigrant Parents
By Castillo

One evening a week, a small group of recent immigrants raise just those kinds of questions when they meet at a Vancouver community centre to talk about parenting.

"Parents are trying to hold on to their value system and traditions and raise their children that way, but when the children get out of the home, they're taught to be assertive and parents misinterpret this as disobedience," said Bella Cenezero of the Parent Support Services Society of B.C. "At the centre, they can express their concerns without being blamed or judged."


But in the GTA, there aren't enough services to help immigrant families adjust to raising children in a society with different values. "There are very few services dealing with parenting issues here," said lawyer and activist Avvy Go. "There is always a generational gap between parents and kids. Now add to that culture tensions."

While the adjustment may be difficult for parents, it's also tough for teenagers who feel torn between preserving their parents' culture and embracing their new one. Friends say this is the argument that may have led to the death of 16-year-old Aqsa Parvez. The Mississauga teen was slain in the family home Monday morning. Her father is in police custody and will appear in court today.

The two reportedly clashed over culture, with the teen shunning the hijab and questioning her father's traditional Muslim views. "While this is obviously an extreme case, I think many families struggle with culture tension," said Go, director of the Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic. "You see parents come here, they may not speak English as a first language and kids, if they're born here, may end up forgetting their first language and there becomes a language barrier between the parents and kids."

The result, she said, is they struggle to have meaningful conversations. This comes at a time when teens may already be struggling to discover their own identity, said Amita Handa, who has written about the conflict between first and second generation South Asians. "Often you get that

Angola: Over 100 Families Seek Family Planning
At least 169 families joined the family planning programme in December, 2008, at maternal and infantile centre of northern Uige province, informed Tuesday the institution's chief, Rosa Laurindo António.
Uganda: Tetanus- Immunising Pregnant Women, Hygiene Will Save the Babies
AFTER years of waiting, Jane was blessed with a healthy baby boy.
South Africa: Refugee Moms to Receive Formula
Hundreds of refugee mothers across the Cape Flats may be off to a better start in the new year as they are set to receive milk formula for their babies.
Nigeria: Lagos Honours New Year Babies
New Year babies born in Lagos were showered with gifts by Abimbola, the wife of Governor Babatunde Fashola, who visited hospitals and urged the mothers to exclusively breast feed for six months to ensure their survival.
Nigeria: New Year - Seven Babies Born in Lagos
As Nigerians join the rest of the world in ushering in the New Year on yesterday, at least seven new babies were born at four public hospitals in Lagos State, with the first arriving at about 12.01 am at Ayinke House, Lagos State university Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja while the set of twins were born at Island Maternity Hospitals, Lagos Island and another at Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) at exactly 1:30 am.
Nigeria: Governor's Wife Presents Gifts to Eight New Year Babies
The Wife of the Lagos State Governor, Mrs Abimbola Fashola, yesterday presented gifts to eight babies delivered on New year in Lagos.
Zimbabwe: Boost for Maternity Clinics
THE United Nations Population Fund says it has delivered emergency reproductive kits, medicine and surgical supplies to maternity care units in central hospitals in the country enough to benefit an estimated 900 000 mothers for at least three months.
Uganda: Enact Law on Surrogate Mothers
In-vitro fertilisation, popularly known as the process for getting test tube babies, has become a reality in Uganda.
Uganda: First Test Tube Baby is Four Years Old
UGANDA'S first test tube baby celebrated her fourth birthday on October 2, 2008.
Zimbabwe: Chitungwiza Hospital Records 58 Births
CHITUNGWIZA Central Hospital has recorded 58 normal births so far this festive season with 10 having been born on Christmas Day.
Uganda: Christmas Abortion - Doctor Held
Police are holding a doctor working with Kansanga life care Health clinic, Guy Kintu for abeting abortion.
Nigeria: Ajabor Wants Law On Regulation of IVF Delivery
A gynaecologist and obstetrician, Prof Linus Ajabor, has canvassed the enactment of a law by the National Assembly to regulate ethical services in the In-vitro Fertilization delivery in the country.
Nigeria: Experts Call for Increased Attention Towards Prevention of Infertility
Irked by the growing number of infertility in the country and the fact that about 25 percent of couples in then developing countries are infertile, medical experts have called for more focus on prevention of infertility than cure.
Nigeria: Nkanu East Flags Off Free Maternal Care Programme
The free maternal and child healthcare embarked on by Enugu State government has been flagged off at Nkanu East Local Government Area.In his speech on the occasion, the council chairman, Ani Ejikeme, noted that what was happening was as a result of a careful, conscious and deliberate planned partnership between the state and his local government.
Uganda: Abortion is Inhuman Whatever the Reason
I read with disappointment the article titled: "Kadaga Backs Abortion After Rape", The New Vision, December 9. The Deputy Speaker of Parliament was responding to women lawyers who said abortion should be legalised as demanded by the Maputo Protocol.
Nigeria: Pregnant Widows Get Free Ante-Natal Kits in Akwa Ibom
Free ante-natal kits worth thousands of naira have been donated to 93 expectant widows who lost their breadwinners while they were pregnant.
Rwanda: 27 Percent Aware of Family Planning - Officials
Some twenty-seven per cent of people that require family planning are using different methods to control births, officials from the ministry of health said on Sunday.
Nigeria: NHIS Seeks Intl Community's Cooperation On Maternal, Child Health
Executive Secretary of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Dr Mohammed Dogo, in Bayelsa recently for the flag-off of a special health Insurance coverage for pregnant women and children in parts of the state, appealed for cooperation from the international community on the country's moves to facilitate access to good health care for pregnant women and young children.
Uganda: Kawempe Health Centre Gets Maternity Equipment
THE Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA) Uganda Ltd has donated delivery beds worth sh10m to Kawempe health centre.

leading a double life phenomenon," said Handa, who wrote Of Silk Saris and Mini-Skirts. "You may wear one thing at your parents' place and then switch clothes on the way to school.

"(Teens) are constantly switching masks to fit in, please and belong to whatever context they may be in." Some experts say Parvez's death speaks more to issues of domestic abuse and violence toward women. "It would be a mistake to put it all on culture clashes, when in fact this is what you see from patriarchy," said Joan Simalchik, co-ordinator of the Study of Women and Gender Program at the University of Toronto. "It would be a mistake to isolate (her death) to just one particular culture or one particular religion because this is something, unfortunately, we see globally."

Margarita Mendez of Nellie's, a safe house for abused women and children, said this sounds like a case of power of men over women. "It appears to be control over traditions and culture," said the executive director, adding there are more young women contacting the shelter for these reasons.

Sumayyah Hussein, a 25-year-old university student, agrees. Hussein, who wears a hijab and is active in the Muslim community, does not believe reported tensions between Parvez and her father are rooted in religion.
"To think that someone would take the life of another person because they won't follow that external manifestation of the belief (the hijab) – it undercuts the bigger values of Islam

By: Castillo

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Alvaro Castillo has been writing about health and specializing pregnancy along with how to deal with the first year of their baby’s life for 10 years, helping women with positive results. For more information check out his website at www.myhomeparent.com or visit his blog myhomeparent.blogspot.com to share your opinion