[LINK] "Refugee hails Halifax: ‘Like a dream to me’"

[rfmcdonald]

The Halifax Chronicle-Herald's Fraqnces Willick writes about a lesbian refugee from Gambia, happily resettled in Halifax.

One month ago, Jahu Camara’s life changed forever.

The young woman stepped off a plane at Halifax Stanfield International Airport, and in an instant, everything was different.

She was free.

“I was feeling like I was in a different world. Everything was like a dream to me,” said Camara, 20.

“If I remember where I am from and where I am, it’s just like a dream.”

Camara is originally from Gambia, in northwest Africa, but she fled to neighbouring Senegal in October 2014. As a lesbian, Camara knew that remaining in Gambia meant not only hiding her sexuality but also living under the constant threat of imprisonment and torture.

“Being a homosexual in Gambia is a deadly act,” she said, sitting at a kitchen table in Dartmouth.