Why These New Monctonians Founded A Newcomer Support Group
MONCTON – In his first year here, Ketan Raval, a tech entrepreneur who moved from India, experienced tough times where he felt he could use some support. Not wanting those tough times to discourage others, he and friend Ruchit Vachhrajani co-founded Moncton Cares, a platform aimed at helping newcomers with their settlement.
“The idea was planted in July (2019) when I immigrated here, and I was looking for help. It kind of became a little bit difficult to figure out everything,” said Raval. “So, we started a community on Whatsapp.”
Raval and Vachhrajani have been helping newcomers in the community prior to Moncton Cares. In fact, Vachhrajani was the first person to help Raval in his settlement in Moncton. But they decided to formalize their work in June 2020 with Moncton Cares.
“There are a lot of things that they need a second opinion and hand-holding. Some of this stress doesn’t allow them to fulfill [the reason] they’re coming here. We want to reduce this stress of newcomers so they can give it 100 percent here,” Raval said.
The non-profit organization under the umbrella of Maritime Newcomer Settlement Services offers free services to people coming from other parts of Canada and the world. It hopes to create similar chapters in other cities, including Fredericton, Saint John, Miramichi, Edmundston and Bathurst.
Moncton Cares also extends its support to newcomers without permanent resident status, like international students, and work permit holders. The organization relies on a community of volunteers with various linguistic and cultural backgrounds.
The founders also launched a web platform and mobile app powered by Raval’s tech company Let’s Nurture, offering information on local events, services, support finding accommodation, jobs and other things. It also offers webinars on topics like dental care, financial literacy, house renovation, and insurance, among other things, by inviting experts to share their knowledge.
“There are many things that we don’t know that we don’t know. That’s the reason we started this,” Vachhrajani said. ” So [newcomers are] not at a disadvantage.”
For example, one of the things Vachhrajani learned more about through discussions with Raval was details about the TFSA and RRSPs. Raval says savings anywhere is vital for newcomers in the first five years as they’ve spent much of their assets for relocation.
Another webinar on parenting was launched shortly after Raval’s wife gave birth alone due to Covid-19 restrictions, while he stayed home with their older daughter.
“These are social [information]. It will not come from going to websites and figuring that out. We have to go to the grassroots level to understand what exactly a family will need,” Raval said.
That may depend on their cultural backgrounds and motivations for relocating, among other things.
For Vachhrajani, that motivation was a more certain immigration process. He had lived in the U.S. for 10 years, working as an international students advisor and later in the hotel industry. He moved because the process to obtain permanent residency is shorter and more certain in Canada, compared to the U.S.
“But we liked Moncton so much that we decided to call this home, and we bought a house and everything. It’s been three years and we’re still here,” said Vachhrajani.
Raval too had initially planned to move to the U.S. but pivoted to Canada.
He hopes to provide a space through Moncton Cares where newcomers will feel comfortable to ask for help and share their struggles.
“We want to create that bonding, That’s a long-lasting memory,” he said. “If we help newcomers in this first four or five years, whatever it is, even just visiting them and helping them with very small things like getting the kids into school or telling them this is where my kids are studying, this goes a long way. This helps them know that they can reach out and ask for help.”
Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Moncton Cares also offers a quarantine plan for international students and others coming from within Canada or abroad. In fact, it was because they got so many requests for help with quarantine in May that they launched Moncton Cares, Raval said.
While other services are free, Moncton Cares charges $299 for a 14-day quarantine plan to help with costs.
“We help them find the right place to quarantine for 14 days and then, we prepare a welcome kit, like toothbrush and other things that they would need,” Vachhrajani explained. “We arrange airport pickup and provide them the transport to quarantine…imagine if somebody is coming from outside this country, and as soon as you land, you are going in quarantine.”
“It’s already a new country, and on top of that, what if you have a language barrier? It’s very, very psychologically difficult to stay in quarantine,” Raval added, saying they also help with grocery runs. “Every day we talk with them…So, they know that there is someone here who cares.”
Inda Intiar is a reporter for Huddle. Send her story suggestions: [email protected]