2008 New Pioneers Awards

Helen Tewolde epitomizes the story of second-generation Canadian achievers and trailblazers born to immigrant parents.

During the civil war with Ethiopia, Helen's parents fled Eritrea. In Gondor, Ethiopia, Helen's father worked as a math teacher; later, in Aqaba, Jordan where Helen was born, her father worked as a senior accountant. Although he earned a good living there, he brought his family to Canada, where civil liberties were secure and his children could obtain a strong education.

For the past 24 years, however, Helen's father has been driving a taxi in Canada, work that is precarious and unsafe. Her mother works as a packer and machine operator in a factory. Her parents' shifting schedules and long hours prompted Helen to independence at a young age. In addition to acting as her family's advocate and mediator, she has achieved her own educational aims and successfully balanced work alongside undergraduate and graduate studies.

Currently an M.A. candidate, Helen is enrolled in the Theory & Policy Studies department with a specialization in Comparative, International and Development Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. She is the recipient of a full-time academic scholarship, the Gordon Cressy Leadership Award (2007) from the University of Toronto and the McMaster University Students' Union Leadership Award (2001).

Not only has Helen met the high expectations that immigrant parents place on their children but she has also become a role model to many young people. "As a diaspora youth, it is always difficult to understand what your role is -- whether you should fulfill cultural duties or excel in mainstream society." Through her community work, Helen has found that these are not mutually exclusive options.

A visionary and innovative builder, Helen has focused her research, community service and activism on various issues, including: international development and education in Africa; immigrant and refugee advocacy; HIV/AIDS transmission among African women and girls; capacity building for African Diaspora organizations including support for social entrepreneurship and leadership development.

She has not limited herself to the perimeters of her own Eritrean-Canadian community but actively exercises leadership with other communities, groups and organizations locally and internationally.

Helen puts passion, energy and intellect into her community activism. From fundraising to organizing, from convening to advocacy, from writing to presenting, from researching to educating, Helen has deployed strategies that have always created space and opportunity for others around her. A team-builder and a source of inspiration for many youth and immigrant women, she leads with integrity, care and by example.

A true New Pioneer, Helen joins other immigrants in crafting new stories in our communities, cities and country.

Skills for Change

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