Our Secrets
A Collection of Immigration Stories
by Ariette Nyahabimana

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Our Secrets is a compilation of nineteen moving, raw stories collected through interviews with immigrants to Canada from Africa and Asia. We honour the bravery of those who made this collection possible. Read about Canada’s rescues of desperate and endangered immigrants, powerful stories that detail their adaptations to a whole new culture. Displaced by war, poverty, abuse, and genocide, these people built up their new home and uplifted those around them as much as they could. Some surpassed every expectation for success, whileothers failed—or were failed—at the outset. However, all real success is based on the traits that unite all good people: namely, the willingness and courage to evolve into our best selves.

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"When a single voice becomes a chorus, the message gains strength and becomes music to the ear. This book invites you to listen to the human condition, and how it translates throughout the world into lived experience. In this case the immigrant experience in Canada and how it becomes part of our collective history. A must read." —Erika Tafel, Author of SLAVE TO THE FARM. "Our Secrets is a rare collection of compelling true stories that feature not only the resilience but also the unvarnished candour of its contributors, warts and all.  The author, Ariette Nyahabimana, profoundly influenced this reader through the honest sharing of exact and unembellished immigrant stories that I find myself reflecting upon very often.  A sparkling bright accomplishment." —Patrick Kizehe, Founder of Giving Refugees Hope in Uganda  www.grhu.org

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Ariette Nyahabimana, B. Psych (University of Ottawa), originally from Congo Kivu, lives and writes in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. She interviewed the participants, wrote their stories, translated and compiled them.

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Contributors

Author

Ariette Nyahabimana