In June, an incredibly important member of the Black CAP family moved on to pursue new opportunities. After committing 10 years to Black CAP as our Support Coordinator/Director of Support, Lena has left Black CAP to pursue a degree in Social Work at York University.

     Lena came to the agency as Support Coordinator in April 2000 and she held this position until April 2009 when she was promoted to Director of Support. Over this time Lena provided support to our clients living with HIV (PHAs) and she touched the lives of countless Black PHAs both in Toronto and across Ontario. There are few in the HIV/AIDS sector who have supported PHAs, as both service provider and advocate, as tirelessly as she has.

     While working at Black CAP Lena experienced both the best and the worst of the sector, and as with many in a support role, her work was both about life and death. Whether it was dealing with a new diagnosis, disclosure, challenges with treatment, or broader issues such as family violence, housing or the child welfare system, Lena has been the first and most important point of contact for many of Black CAP’s clients. 

     For many in our community Lena was the person who either took care of you or supported you to care of yourself when no one else would or could. As one client told us, “it is impossible to describe Lena in a few words, she connects to all of her clients and she makes you want to come back to her”, for another client, “Lena is the family that I have chosen for myself.”

     Lena also made an incredible contribution to the HIV sector and is viewed as a leader. Without exception her colleagues see her as a tireless advocate and defender of PHA inclusion, access and voice, especially for female PHAs. In addition, when it is in the interest of her clients and her community, Lena has been a vocal critic of inequities and barriers to services for PHAs, both within Black CAP and in the broader community. The source of this criticism comes from a deep rooted sense of social justice and an understanding of meaningful social inclusion.

     Before leaving Lena wanted people to know that while she has worked hard to meet the needs of our clients, there is so much more to be done as we try to create a community space where clients can access support that would help them on their journey.  She also hopes that Black CAP will some day find the resources to provide much needed support to youth living with HIV/AIDS and create a space where they can come together and address issues on HIV stigma and find the support they need to make changes within themselves and their community.

     After a long tenure at Black CAP Lena decided that it was time for her to move on and to pursue a Social Work degree at York University. To say goodbye we held a going away party for Lena in late June where more than 100 community members came out to say thanks and good luck. While we are so sad to see Lena go we are also incredibly excited for her as she takes the next steps in her career.

     Our work seems as important now as ever. You know how important this program is if you’ve been following the news about the intense persecution of gay men and lesbian women in countries such as Malawi and Uganda or the anti-gay violence in the Caribbean. The stories of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga in Malawi, who were sentence to 14 years in jail for holding an engagement ceremony are typical of the stories we hear from clients in our settlement program. 

     Over the last six months this program has served 44 new LGBT clients who came to Canada as refugees. Of these new clients about 75% are gay, 14% are lesbian, 5% are transgender and,  6% are bisexual clients. Black CAP also provides monthly group programming for this community called ’Foreign Integration’. Each month about 20 LGBT newcomers come together to share their stories. For instance, at the May meeting, the  discussion centered around the difficulties of coming “out” to family and friends in the Black, African and Caribbean communities. Group members had various experiences with this and shared stories and strategies with one another on how do this in the safest possible way.

     To learn more about this program call our Settlement Coordinator Craig Cromwell.

     As the quality and length of life of people living with HIV or AIDS increases, the number of our HIV positive clients returning to work will also continue to grow. The primary goal of the Kazi project are to reduce barriers to employment for PHAs by supporting them to enter and re-enter the workforce through career planning, training and education.

     People living with HIV/AIDS are much more likely to be unemployed than people in the general population. In Canada, the employment situation of people living with HIV/AIDS is generally similar to that of other persons with disabilities, whose employment levels are variously estimated as 30-40% lower than those of non-disabled persons. For many, an HIV diagnosis is highly de-stabilizing and employment is often placed on hold until they deal with their new HIV diagnosis. HIV is also episodic the complications and challenges of HIV treatment often interrupt employment.

     Many African and Caribbean PHAs are also newcomers to Canada who have not been able to successfully integrate into Canadian employment. In some cases this is the result of a lack of awareness of the Canadian employment process and limited networks. This program is also important because many of our clients have limited education and training prior to diagnosis. Some PHAs are also unable to maintain employment and access appropriate benefits to attain treatment.

     This two-year project is funded by the Counselling Foundation of Canada. The Counselling Foundation is providing funding for a full time Employment Counsellor to support our clients to enter or re-enter the workforce. The Counsellor provides individual employment counselling supports to reduce the barriers to employment and increase the knowledge of options available. Black CAP will also be running monthly workshops to help PHAs gain skills that will help them find employment. These workshops will include topics such as writing an effective résumé, how to present yourself for an interview, job search techniques, and networking.

     If you have any questions about this project please contact Jalila Muhammad at Black CAP.

We would like to thank all those who joined Black CAP for our 20th Anniversary Celebration on November 26th. This event was the culmination of 20 years of working to care for and support Toronto's Black, African and Caribbean communities.