There are many lessons taught in the school of life

Life has a way of seeming like a classroom with endless lessons.

Some of my learning moments in the school of life have occurred in Winnipeg while walking along the city's streets, visiting with friends or attending a community event. One particular lesson came from reflecting on some compelling stories individuals shared of how Winnipeg became a safe haven for them.

• Africa edition

  Africa is one complex and gloriously unmanageable 'theme' to choose to kick off our 2012 series, Our City Our World, which is why it took up the whole newspaper on Jan. 18.

• China edition

  Hard-working Chinese immigrants, once banned, have risen to the highest echelons of Manitoba.

• Germany edition

  German immigrants have played a surprisingly large role in the development of the province.

• Iceland edition

  Arriving in Manitoba in the 1870s unprepared for a brutal winter, Icelandic settlers and their descendants have left their mark on our province.

• Italy edition

  Industrious Italians rose from peasant roots and adapted to Canadian society by mastering L’art d’arrangiarsi (the art of getting by).

• Latin America edition

  It used to be the only time Prairie folks met Spanish-speaking people was when they vacationed down south. More often now, they're the people next door.

• Middle East edition

  When the first Middle East families immigrated to Manitoba, mosques were unheard of and even yogurt was exotic. But now all that has changed.

• Philippines edition

  A booming Filipino community nearly 60,000 strong has transformed Manitoba.

• South Asian edition

  As the city's Indo-Canadian population experiences dramatic growth, its pioneers recall their warm Winnipeg welcome.

• Ukraine edition

  Scarred by Holodomor, the Ukrainian community helped shape Winnipeg's cultural mosaic.

• United Kingdom edition

  Manitoba's history is built on a foundation provided by settlers from the U.K., who came here seeking better lives.

I recall on one occasion attending a youth event where a group of African teenagers re-enacted how they and their families fled their countries when armed conflict broke out. Their plight included seeking refuge in a refugee camp and eventually embarking on a journey that brought them to Winnipeg. I remember how I felt.

I had a similar mix of emotions the day I observed a group of African mothers, all forcibly displaced from their countries of birth, embark on the journey of learning English, for most of them, for the first time.

On the one hand, as you reflect on their experiences, you are thankful they are alive and safe and living in a context where different opportunities will be available for them.

And on the other hand, your mind is flooded with questions about how human suffering and struggle indiscriminately can be thrust upon young and old, male and female.

You also wrestle with the reality that due to violent conflicts, the continent of Africa loses generations of young people. You empathize with the mothers who are striving to settle in and survive in a new socio-cultural environment.

For all of them, the journey of new beginnings is not easy, but it must be travelled.

And as you learn what these individuals overcame in their plight and realize their resolute human will to live, you recognize their courage, inner strength and spirit of resiliency. You recognize humanity's lesson of the shared aspirations we all have -- to daily live in secure, stable and peaceful environments.

We desire a sense of security where basic human resources such as shelter, food, water and clothing can be met.

We desire to live in environments where our human dignity is valued and our freedoms to dream and hope for fruitful futures are not infringed upon.

Sadly for many from places of armed conflict, political strife, or fragile states, these very basic rights and freedoms are limited or absent.

Often when you ask members of Winnipeg's African community about the limitations, the issue of destructive political leadership arises. The discourse indicates in some of these countries, there is a pressing need for constructive, servant-leadership that is people-centred and able to promote and sustain democratic principles and practices. There is need for leadership that can effectively facilitate conditions for human security, respect for human rights and opportunities that allow for human development.

There is need for leadership that is willing to embark on a different journey, one that contributes to life's lessons, that makes real three meals a day, access to education for children, readily available health care and citizens who are able to embrace their countries as safe havens.

It is these kinds of life's lessons that will allow future generations on African soil to tell and re-enact a different narrative -- a narrative of peace, justice and security rather than one of violence, injustice and insecurity.

A native of Botswana, Mavis Ntshebo Matenge is a doctoral student at the University of Manitoba where she is pursuing peace and conflict studies as a Commonwealth Scholar with the Arthur V. Mauro Centre for Peace and Justice. Matenge is a graduate of the Monterey Institute of International Studies and Luther College in the United States.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 18, 2012 A11