New Land, New Home

3 New Land, New Home Joe immigrated to Canada at the age of 41. There were many stressful days as he had his whole family to take care of. He rented an apartment and bought a few pieces of furniture and some cookware. Since he had no job, the savings they brought with them were diminishing rapidly. They needed to buy groceries and pay the rent. After getting his family settled, Joe went out to look for a job. As he walked, he saw many things on the street that people threw away on garbage day-TVs, washers, furniture and refrigerators. Joe could not believe his eyes. “ Why would people get rid of such things?" he asked himself. Seeing all the “ junk" , Joe decided to take the television home to see what the problem was. After all, he was an electrician before he came to Canada. Since he was twelve years old, Joe's main hobby has been electronics. He assembled a radio back in the 1970s, which was quite something for a teen-age boy.

Now, he had no job and no in-come. All he had was time and his hobby. He plugged the television into a wall plug. There were images on the screen, but there was no sound. He opened the back cover using the tools he'd brought with him. Before long, Joe diagnosed the problem. The loudspeaker was broken. He went out again. And there was garbage placed on the sidewalk waiting to be picked up in the morning. He found a toy keyboard. He was delighted and carried the keyboard home. The keyboard didn't work, but luckily its loudspeaker did. Fifteen minutes later, Joe had a TV with both picture and sound. Joe began to question people why they threw away so many electronics. The answer was the same from everyone: repair services were too expensive. He discovered that people would rather buy new products. Joe made up his mind to open an electronics repair shop that would offer fair prices. Today, Joe has much success in his new country. He could have lost hope. Instead, he chose to make the best out of a tough situation.