Raymond Ngarboui was a winner of the 2023 Top 25 Canadian Immigrant awards

Editor: This report was first posted on Canadian Immigrant: https://canadianimmigrant.ca/

Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards

Raymond Ngarboui

Community development coordinator; community builder
City: Winnipeg
Country of Origin: Chad

Helping communities

Raymond Ngarboui was born and raised in the middle of civil wars in Chad. “I survived civil war and other socioeconomic atrocities thanks to UNICEF and other community members who fed and protected me,” he says.

After coming to Canada, French-speaking Ngarboui was thankful to receive more help as he learned English and figured out a career path using his degree in agriculture. “I benefited from federal government support in my first 12 months in Canada,” says Ngarboui. “I feel a moral obligation to give back to society, by assisting disadvantaged and underserved community members.” 

Today, Ngarboui works as a community development coordinator for Winnipeg, Manitoba–based non-profit organization Community Education Development Association (CEDA).

“My role consists of assisting communities and their members in identifying and assessing their current issues, challenges and needs, as well as the existing resources and other assets available to address those needs and bring solutions to the communities,” he says.

Ngarboui also works with the school system on strategies and resource mobilization to address major socioeconomic challenges, such as hunger or poverty, that prevent students from lower-income, immigrant and Indigenous families from better school attendance.

Recognizing the importance of food security, Ngarboui co-initiated Rainbow Community Gardens in 2008, which he says has become the largest community garden in Canada with 356 families from 44 different nationalities involved in 2022. “Community gardening and local food production is one of the key solutions to addressing food insecurity and the high inflation in groceries,” he says.

Ngarboui also initiated and co-organized the program Food 4 All in Winnipeg during the pandemic, which saw some 200 volunteers cook breakfasts and lunches for 20,000 community members.

“By doing this work, I contribute to the wellbeing of underserved families, in the same way that I used to benefit from organizations and people when I was in desperate need,” says Ngarboui, who is featured among 30 provincial historical personalities in the Manitoba Museum Gallery alongside the likes of Louis Riel and Senator Murray Sinclair, who led Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Raymond Ngarboui’s Top Tip:

“Be patient, love your new community and society, meet new friends and participate with them in community activities, including sports, community events, cleanups and celebrations. Be open to learning main local language(s) and any hands-on skills, and maximize your community volunteering. Finally, love your new environment and its weather, and do feel at home and happy! Practise all this, and you will find that all will flow as you would wish for your successful integration in your new life in any part of Canada!”