Stepping into a life of hope

In December, 2025 CLWR’s Refugee Resettlement team held a winter celebration in Vancouver, BC. At the event Shakila Bahrami, a refugee from Afghanistan who was resettled to Canada with support from CLWR, shared this inspiring message on the power of refugee resettlement to change lives.

Thank you for giving me the honour to stand here tonight. I would like to take this opportunity first to say thank you to Senait and her amazing team, whose kindness and open hearts helped all of us to find a new home and step into a life full of hope and opportunities.

Before I continue, I also want to acknowledge the many minorities in Afghanistan — especially the Hazara community, who have faced decades of discrimination, violence and persecution because of their ethnicity and religion. History is repeating itself. Today, Afghan women are disappearing from public life. Schools that once welcomed girls with hope now stand silent. Doors to universities are locked. Workplaces are emptied of female voices. And the right to simply learn, to speak, to dream — has been taken away.

While the world steps boldly into the future, an entire generation of Afghan girls is being pushed back into a life without education, without opportunity, without the basic freedoms every human being deserves.

Imagine a girl who was in Grade 6 when the gates of her school closed. Today she should be preparing for university and her own future. Instead, she is trapped in the same grade — not because she lacks ability, but because her country denies her the right to grow. This is the reality shaping a new generation: a generation forced into silence, held back from the future, and cut off from their own potential.

But the story of Afghan women has never been only a story of suffering. It is a story of extraordinary strength. Even in the darkest circumstances, Afghan women continue to learn behind closed doors, continue to teach each other in secret, continue to hope when the world has forgotten them.

Their courage is quiet but powerful.

Their resilience is invisible but unbreakable.

Their dreams are threatened but still alive.

And then, one day, life changes.

For me, it changed the day I came to Canada. Starting a new life was not simple. The first months were full of challenges — new language, new systems, new city, new everything. There were days I felt lost. Days I missed home so deeply that it hurt. Days I wondered if I could really start again.

But Canada gives something very special: unlimited opportunities if you are willing to work. Here, your gender does not define your future. Your accent does not limit your dreams. Your past does not close any doors.

Slowly, step by step, I began to build my life. I studied. I worked. I grew. I met people who believed in me even when I doubted myself. And today, standing here tonight, I truly feel Canada is not just the place where I live — it is home.

In many ways, it feels like a home even more than the home I left, because here, I can live freely, dream boldly, and walk safely.

And I know I am not alone. Many Afghan women now living around the world — students, teachers, mothers, activists, entrepreneurs — are proving every day what happens when a woman is given opportunity instead of limitation, education instead of silence, safety instead of fear. They are showing exactly what Afghan women are capable of when the world gives them space to breathe.

Tonight, we are celebrating Christmas — a season of hope, light, and new beginnings. And I want to say thank you, from the deepest part of my heart, to this church community.

Your welcome was not just a gesture; it was life changing.

You did not just open a door; you opened a future.

You didn’t just help me escape fear — you helped me step into a life with purpose.

And to every girl, every woman, every newcomer listening — your story is not over.

Your struggle is not your identity. Your future is bigger than your past. And in a place like Canada, the possibilities are truly unlimited.

Photo caption: Shakila Bahrami shares about the power of refugee sponsorship at the CLWR winter celebration in December 2025. (Photo/Ali Ewaz)