Grace

“I love languages because it helps me connect with different people… When I was a girl I was bilingual in English and French. I used to interpret for my francophone grandmother because my cousins only spoke English.”

Grace is a 51 French-Canadian living in Victoria, BC. She is a polyglot who can speak French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, and Portuguese, and she hopes to learn even more languages. She shares her love of language to others by being a French, Spanish, and Italian language instructor. Unsurprisingly, her favourite thing to do is watch foreign films. Grace is actively involved in her mosque’s community, and volunteers as director of membership at the BC Muslim Association. On top of that, she is the treasurer and volunteer coordinator of H.E.R.S. Foundation. When I asked Grace what her proudest achievement is she told me, “I like helping others as much as I can. One year I helped an Iranian family pass the citizenship exam orally in front of a judge. They really wanted to live here permanently but couldn’t pass the exam in English in written form.” Her own favourite quality is her generosity, she told me, “I can’t stop giving.” Grace told me her most challenging experience was when she “reverted to Islam in 1992 after being raised as a Roman Catholic all my life. It has been a challenge to keep good relations with my Catholic family despite my new chosen faith.”

Q&A Feature:

What is your biggest hope?

“My biggest hope is for peace in the Middle East between the Palestinians and the Israelis. We are able to live in peace and harmony in North American and elsewhere so why not there?”