5 years in Kingston
Community, employment services, and the arts changed my life.
As I waited for bus 14 to get to the terminal for the 501 straight to downtown—a good one-hour ride, or more in winter—I wondered what my life would be like if I hadn’t come to this city. Maybe it would have been better, or worse; who knows? The future is always uncertain, no matter how hard you try to predict it.Immigration isn’t, and never is, a walk in the park. Everyone has a different reason for leaving their hometown and moving to a completely different place with the hope of something better.
Coming to Kingston was both a need and a choice. Having extended family here provided the support I needed. I had a taste of living in Toronto—a big city with a great skyline, high-rises, and beautiful waterfronts—for a while, but it never felt like home. Kingston, however, welcomed me with open arms.
I went to Kingston Community Health Centre to pick up my welcome package, specially created for immigrants through a partnership with the Kingston Immigration Partnership and the City of Kingston. This package included a Kingston Transit pass, a fitness pass to city recreational programs, vouchers for shows at the Grand Theatre, and family passes to museums. With no income at the time, this package felt like a pass to start my life again: to get to know the city, the community, and to explore what was out there.
Things were okay as I started to navigate life in the new city, but I quickly realized that my education and what I had studied did not have lucrative opportunities here. I started planning for alternative careers, but I still wanted to pursue what I was passionate about.
Kingston is strategically positioned at the meeting point of the St. Lawrence and Cataraqui Rivers with Lake Ontario and holds historical importance for Indigenous peoples. I began by learning the city's history, trying to understand what it had to offer.
I let go of my previous experiences and the passion to make it big in my field, so that I could welcome new experiences. The next thing I had to do was let go of my past life, which wasn’t easy. Having a great career in Pakistan with a promising future, leaving it all proved to be a bad decision at the time.
I went through a complete blackout, feeling like everything was over. No money, trauma leading to major stress, and a self-esteem breakdown. However, I was lucky to have a family who held my hand, made me hopeful about life again, and constantly told me I could make it.
The job search was scary. Surprisingly, I got several interviews in the banking sector, but I never went past the second interview phase, which made sense since I had no interest in that sector.
Academically and professionally, I was trained in spearheading communication in high-stakes environments, crisis situations, and diplomatic scenarios. One transferable skill was my ability to contextualize things and make them easily understandable using concepts, foresight, and strategic analysis. That’s exactly what I did.
So what if I had to hold off my career for a while? I could contextualize my situation and use my foresight skills to create a better opportunity for myself. All I had to do was some research—figure out how things work in this new city and how I could make the most of what was presented to me. In my opinion, this is what it means to be creative.
I came across the employment services at KEYS in Kingston. They offered a program aimed at helping young people train for the basic job market in Kingston and providing a platform to network with others in the same boat. I got selected to be part of that program. I met people from various backgrounds, made friends, and started to feel a sense of belonging.
One of the group members, now one of my closest friends, helped me get over self-esteem issues by being my biggest cheerleader, teaching me how to skate, and reminding me how brave I was to face setbacks and still get back up. I also found a great mentor who helped me navigate the next steps of my career. Through their placement program, I secured a great entry-level job at a nonprofit. My supervisor there was so helpful; he trusted me with projects and taught me how to review project grants and work. This experience led me to transform the fundraising campaign into an online campaign during COVID.
I would talk with people, learn from them, and make connections to understand my next steps. Then I went to Martello Alley, an amazing art gallery, where I met the owner. He loved my photography and introduced me to the art community of Kingston. Another amazing thing happened there: I met one of my best friends that day. He was there completing a survey for his work. He is the nicest person, curious about meeting people from around the world, interested in learning languages, and incredibly helpful.
The pandemic hit, and everything was closed, with no opportunities available for anyone, let alone someone who had just moved to a new city. However, I approached it with the mindset of "what's the worst that could happen?" When the worst has already happened to you, it’s easy to adopt this attitude. I’m not recommending it, but that’s what helped me overcome many fears.
I studied international relations in school, and for five years prior to coming to Canada, I had worked with people from various backgrounds around the world. That skill and experience helped me build networks, friendships, and relationships that proved very helpful in creating the life I wanted. I was hired as a writer for a new news outlet, covering stories of resilience from small businesses and community members during the pandemic. My transferable skills of talking with people and storytelling helped me earn a living during a time when most people were losing jobs.
Understanding and adapting to different cultures is one of the skills we read about in our IR courses, and I applied it to personal relationships as well, which worked.
Fast forward to today, five years in Kingston—with the help of community, employment services, and arts—I have lived a life I thought was over, in ways I never imagined possible. I worked on one of the biggest projects of the federal government, helping young people navigate their personal and professional journeys. I completed my post-grad at one of the best institutions in Canada. I serve on the board of one of the best arts and creative centers in Ontario, all because of the services this beautiful city offered. Even better, I was able to stand back on my feet, make genuinely nice friends, and start to believe again that everything will be fine as long as we keep moving.
Five years is my personal milestone in Kingston. If Kingston were a person, I would hug them and say, "Thank you for everything. Thank you for welcoming me and giving me a home.”
