Opportunities to work and learn are privileges, though many of us take them for granted. Not Alnoor Derby, a 29-year-old man from Sudan.  

Derby recently completed a Manitoba Construction Sector Council (MCSC) drywalling course, and he’s extremely grateful for the opportunities it is opening.   

“I’m happy to get the chance to learn. I’m excited to work too, because while you work, you continue to learn.”  

Through the training course that is part of MCSC’s funding agreement with the Northpine Foundation aiming to put 180 Employment Income Assistance (EIA) recipients in sustainable construction jobs, MCSC has helped him find work with NexGen Drywall.   

While Derby has found hope and opportunity in Canada, his journey to get here is one that would drain all hope for most people.   

Derby reflected back to when his journey began with him leaving his home in Sudan in 2017 at the age of 22 due to ongoing war. He moved to Chad and then Benin in pursuit of further education. Without the money to achieve that, though, Derby noted that he sought to come to Canada to find a better life. 

 “A man from Chad who was in Canada came to Benin,” Derby noted. “He saw that I had been working hard for more than five years there and decided to help me and a few others get to Canada.”  

After travelling through Cameroon, Morocco, and Spain, Derby explained that he and a group of seven others flew to Columbia, and then north to Nicaragua. From there, they took a car to Honduras and on to Guatemala – a journey that he said was anything but safe.  

“We paid money to guides who took us in their cars. If you didn’t pay them the money, they could call the mafia and get you sent back to your country.”  

After crossing into Mexico, they planned to carry on to Mexico City. Continuing by car would be far more dangerous, recalled Derby, adding that mafia members were looking to kidnap people everywhere on the route. Instead, the group chose to travel by boat.  

As Derby’s journey continued in Mexico City, he said the group quickly made plans to carry on to the U.S. border. They again had two options – fly to Tijuana at the California border, or take a car to the Arizona border. Derby recalled how devastating it was to find out their documents wouldn’t allow them to fly, meaning they were forced to risk the dangerous car trip.   

It was two days into that trip, noted Derby, that mafia members caught them and took them hostage in a remote house, where their phones, passports, and documents were taken. The mafia demanded over $2,000 per person for their release, but the group didn’t have that kind of money.   

“We were held there for two weeks, and we got one bite of bread a day. We weren’t allowed to ask about food, water, or anything.”  

It seemed like a hopeless situation to Derby, but he knew that he and the group had come too far to give up.   

Their best chance for escape, he said, was when several mafia members would leave to capture more hostages. That left only one or two members behind.  

One day, the group took their shot.   

“We called the guard saying that one of us was sick,” Derby recalled. “When he came inside, we were able to kick him and take his gun, allowing us to escape. When we got out, we ran without knowing what direction we were going.”  

They eventually found a highway, where Derby remembered hopping on a bus to the nearest city. From there, they took a train to the Arizona border. American immigration police took the group to a prison to interview them, and three of them, including Derby, were released after three days while several had to stay behind.  

Still wanting to find his way to Canada, Derby traveled north to New York and then Indianapolis before he said he was finally able to enter Canada and come to Winnipeg in July 2024, seven years after he had left home.  

 Though he was finally in Canada, Derby explained that was when a new journey began for him – finding a job to start to establish himself in his new country. Thankfully for him, this journey wasn’t nearly as long. Through newcomer organizations, Derby was told about MCSC and their training courses. 

 Though he had some experience in construction, the construction he was familiar with in Sudan is nothing like in Canada. While Canada uses a lot of wood, cement is more common back in Africa, Derby highlighted.  

“I had to watch a YouTube video on what drywall is,” Derby said of trying to learn what material he would be working with.    

While Derby will now be taking on work to build houses, he’ll continue to build his life in Canada, which isn’t an easy path either.   

“It can be easy to think negatively in a new country where you don’t have a job and don’t speak the same language as most people,” Derby admitted. “But you can be patient, because things are getting better. Many of the things we have here, the people back in my home country don’t have. When I think about them, it reminds me that I’m doing ok.” 

 Derby said he would like to go back to school again for construction or manufacturing when the time is right, along with getting his permanent residency.  

But for now, he’s just grateful to be free, and to have hope for his future.