Story by Laura Rosen Cohen and Valerie Dittrich
Photography by Nicole Njagi
“There’s no place like home.”
When Dorothy is prompted to click her heels three times and chant this sentiment in The Wizard of Oz, she’s whisked away from the land of Oz and back to Kansas.
Although there is certainly no place like home, University Family Housing (UFH) is a place that thousands of U of T students have called a second home on the St. George Campus. Spaces & Experiences had the opportunity to speak to three former residents of UFH’s Charles Street community and learn about their roles as staff and growing up at UFH.
Hamza Husain, who now works as Community Program Support staff and is in his third year at U of T studying political science specializing in Canadian governance, came to UFH from Pakistan with his mother in 2008. The Charles Street community was their first home in Canada. Shortly after their arrival, Hamza’s mother began her undergraduate degree in Environmental Science and continued her studies at U of T by earning a master’s degree in forestry prior to entering the Canadian workforce.
From left to right: Hamza Husain, Wajiha Ilham and Ibtisaam Wasi
Home can mean a lot of things, but for Hamza, UFH was the foundation of his life in Canada. “Home was not just the physical aspects of UFH, but also the community itself,” he says. “Home is a physical space where you sleep at night, but it’s also the people around you, the ones you interact with each and every day.”
Hamza recalls the different activities his mother placed him in as a child, led by former Residence Life Coordinator, Maureen Lynch. He credits UFH as being a lifeline for the both of them.
“When we arrived from Pakistan, [my mother] only had a dollar in her pocket, yet she did her undergraduate and master’s degrees here at U of T. Because of UFH, she was able to do her degrees and have something for me to do [and] go to school,” he adds.
Hamza lived at the Charles Street community at the same time as siblings Wajiha Ilham and Ibtisaam Wasi, who hail from Bangladesh and came to UFH with their parents in September 2009.
Wajiha was only 11 months old when her family came to Canada. She says growing up in a such a close-knit community allowed her to blossom socially. “I remember doing a dancing program and feeling so scared to participate in activities, but then finally coming out of my shell socially, feeling comfortable with everyone and playing outside until the streetlights came on.”
Her brother, Ibtisaam, in his second year at U of T, double majoring in neuroscience and cell and molecular biology and works as Community Program Support Staff, was only two years older than his sister when they arrived to UFH. He notes how much the Charles Street community helped integrate his family into Canadian culture, using the resources available to them such as the Drop-In Centre and programs for children and adults.
Wajiha was only 11 months old when her family came to Canada. She says growing up in a such a close-knit community allowed her to blossom socially. “I remember doing a dancing program and feeling so scared to participate in activities, but then finally coming out of my shell socially, feeling comfortable with everyone and playing outside until the streetlights came on.”
Her brother, Ibtisaam, in his second year at U of T, double majoring in neuroscience and cell and molecular biology and works as Community Program Support Staff, was only two years older than his sister when they arrived to UFH. He notes how much the Charles Stret community helped integrate his family into Canadian culture, using the resources available to them such as the Drop-In Centre and programs for children and adults.
“This place really made an impact on us,” he says. “Even when my parents finished studying, we moved nearby because we wanted the community that surrounded us to be nearby. We never wanted to be far away from here.”
For Hamza, it’s difficult to pick a favourite memory from his time living at UFH—but the joys of makeshift camping on the rooftop of 30 Charles sits at the top of the list.
“Maureen and her awesome team would play games with us and then we would have a movie night and a pancake breakfast in the morning,” he says.
“They really were the best pancakes,” Ibtisaam adds.
“This place really made an impact on us,” he says. “Even when my parents finished studying, we moved nearby because we wanted the community that surrounded us to be nearby. We never wanted to be far away from here.”
For Hamza, it’s difficult to pick a favourite memory from his time living at UFH—but the joys of makeshift camping on the rooftop of 30 Charles sits at the top of the list.
“Maureen and her awesome team would play games with us and then we would have a movie night and a pancake breakfast in the morning,” he says.
“They really were the best pancakes,” Ibtisaam adds.
Despite the programming available to families at UFH, the kids always had new ideas on how to stay entertained up their sleeve, like an ad-hoc cricket team on the podium deck, water gun fights outside and many hours playing tag.
There are always tons of activities to keep kids and families busy, including day trips like strawberry picking at local farms, water parks, and skating rinks.
While Wajiha doesn’t work at UFH like Hamza and Ibtisaam, she says she still feels a strong connection to the Charles Street community and does everything she can to give back.
“I organized two back-to-school festivals here and my family all volunteered to staff them. The goal was to create an event for families to de-stress and get free school supplies,” she says. “We gave out over 200 books for the event, had games and snacks and a cotton candy machine.”
Wajiha says that it was a wonderful feeling to be back in the community and especially being on the on the rooftop garden again with families and kids.
Ibtisaam says he feels a little nostalgic for his childhood, even while on the job. “There always was the smell of cooking in the hallways, then and even now. When you walk down the halls of 30 and 35 Charles Street, you can feel so many different cultures. I smell cooking while I’m here at work and it smells like home.”
“For prospective families, there’s no better place for undergrad or post-graduate work,” says Hamza. “Having housing at U of T, just minutes from campus made it so much easier. Here at UFH, there’s so much support for students and their children.”
Ibtisaam says he feels a little nostalgic for his childhood, even while on the job. “There always was the smell of cooking in the hallways, then and even now. When you walk down the halls of 30 and 35 Charles Street, you can feel so many different cultures. I smell cooking while I’m here at work and it smells like home.”
“For prospective families, there’s no better place for undergrad or post-graduate work,” says Hamza. “Having housing at U of T, just minutes from campus made it so much easier. Here at UFH, there’s so much support for students and their children.”
Sirichai “Song” Limpanapongpan, Housing Life Coordinator, Community and Recreation for UFH, says he feels like a proud mentor seeing former residents of the Charles Street community, now work or study at U of T, or do volunteer programming.
“It is really an honour to see them grow and help them contribute their own energy and compassion into programs for the community they have grown up in,” he says.
“We really build on the individual here. We welcome everyone and make everyone feel safe and let them know that they belong. We also love to hear feedback and input from our residents and are always asking our community members what we can do better,” he adds.
The UFH administrative team is made up of talented and dedicated staff who wake up every day with passion for caring for children and families. He says having former residents now on board as staff is just another example of that compassion and commitment.
“It is truly a special place.”
