Newcomers in winter wonderland

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This article was published 27/01/2019 (2656 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The chilly Saturday morning scene at the True North Youth Foundation’s Camp Manitou could have taken place almost anywhere in Canada: kids squirming into ice skates, hockey helmets being jammed down over tuques, parents struggling to keep warm on the sidelines as their children hit the rink.

But most of the skaters had never been on skates before, and today was their first opportunity.

Saturday’s “Welcome to Winnipeg” event saw Camp Manitou pair up with Winnipeg’s Congo-Canada Charity Foundation to give families, mostly from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a chance to experience for free winter activities such as tobogganing, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and — above all — ice hockey.

“This is really amazing,” said Paul Kambaja, president of the non-profit Congo-Canada Charity Foundation and a teacher at Grant Park High School.

“As newcomers, our children have less chance to experience hockey… It’s even tough for us to inspire them to do it, because hockey’s expensive, and most of us, we can’t afford,” he said.

“It’s one of the biggest sports in Canada, so we’d love to have at least some of our children be part of that sport.”

Out on Camp Manitou’s outdoor hockey rink, the scene was exactly what one would expect from a novice ice skating lesson: kids shuffling around in shaky circles, clinging to steel skate trainers for dear life as camp staff offered help.

Twelve-year-old Milca Bukasa didn’t need a skate trainer. For her very first time on ice skates, she scooted around with remarkable poise.

“I was kind of impressed with myself, because I thought I’d keep falling,” said Bukasa as she warmed up in the locker room afterward. Her family is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but she was born in South Africa before the family came to Canada.

“It’s just my feet are freezing cold.”

The events at Camp Manitou in Headingley are funded by the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association as part of an initiative to grow Canada’s future hockey fan base, said camp director Rick Bochinski.

About 250 newcomers to Canada took part in the events last year, Bochinski said. He expects about 350 people to come to Camp Manitou for the winter sports experience in 2019. (On top of the sports, participants in the Welcome to Winnipeg events get a free ticket to a Winnipeg Jets game and a $25 gift certificate for Jets swag.)

“This experience just blows them away,” said Bochinski.

“Not just the weather, but trying winter activities. They’ve never tried them, right?”

Abraham Choul is originally from South Sudan, but he’s lived in Winnipeg for 15 years. He brought his wife and three young children to Saturday’s events at Camp Manitou and strapped on a pair of blades to try ice skating for himself.

“I thought it was easy, when I see when people are skating — but it’s not easy,” Chuol said during a break in the locker room.

Choul headed back outside to join his kids, down at the far end of the rink. Bent over a child-sized skate trainer, he skittered his way down the ice, shouting a victory cry into the frozen morning air.

“I can do it now!”

solomon.israel@freepress.mb.ca@sol_israel