Meet a refugee woman making Ottawa her home

Michelle Miller

To mark International Women’s Day, which was on March 8, we at Carty House would like to showcase our work supporting refugee women in Ottawa. Carty House is a local first home and helping had for female refugees and a long-standing presence in our community. We are thrilled to announce that Carty House II opened in October 2024 and is now able to serve even more vulnerable women.

What’s it like to be a female refugee? Find out from one of our current residents in her own words:

My name is Henriette and I am from Cameroon, a country in central Africa. I am a married mother of four children and a teacher by profession. I arrived in Canada in July 2024. I am safe now and have a home at Carty House, but it was not always that way.

When I first arrived in Canada, I had to learn very quickly how to find a bed each night. At one shelter, I was offered a cot each night at 10 pm since there were no beds available. If you are on a cot, you have to be up at 5:30 am and leave the building at 6 am, since the shelter is only for sleeping. Then, you have to figure out where to go for the day.

I didn’t have any family here, it was a painful period. I would spend the entire day at the Rideau Centre, not being able to shower, and then I would have to get back to the shelter. After a month on the cot, I was finally assigned a bed. Even though that experience felt inhumane at times, I will always remember that this shelter was the first place that welcomed me. And it was this shelter that enabled me to find Carty House. For that I will always be grateful.

Being a refugee, especially being a female refugee, comes with many challenges. Female refugees are often invisible to society. There is no one to tell you what it means to be a refugee woman, alone in a new country, or what your rights and privileges are. You live in total ignorance and fear.

Before arriving at Carty House, I had a lot of self-doubt. But thanks to Carty House, I’ve regained my self-confidence and the courage to continue the path I began as a refugee woman. I’m being supported through all the plans for my future. It is thanks to Carty House that I have come back to life. All my needs that are within their power are provided for. I’m taken care of physically and psychologically. Carty House has given me back the strength to continue the path to a safe life and the chance to start again.

Through my experience, I see that providing shelter to refugees is a humanitarian act. It is humane and compassionate to give shelter to someone you don’t know. Thank you, Carty House; thank you, Ottawa; thank you, Canada.

To learn more about Carty House or to support our mission, visit us online at www.cartyhouse.org or on most social media at @CartyHouse or @CartyHouseOttawa.