Episode Description
In this episode, the first in our four-part series with Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISSofBC), I'm speaking with Dacious Richardson, who came to Canada from Liberia as a refugee in 2011 and has since become a youth mentor and community leader in British Columbia.
The stuff that life throws at you and what you decide to do about it are two separate things, and Dacious is proof that the life you build depends on the second one. He didn't have any choice in the war that engulfed his home country, or being displaced, or moving to Canada as a refugee. But he's chosen almost everything ever since.
And while he wishes he'd never experienced all the violence and trauma that comes with war, he says he wouldn't be who he is without it.
Dacious and I chat about:
Why he filled his days with sport after sport
Why his work is focused on young people
The centre he dreams of building, here and back home
Why soccer needs no shared language to build a community
Why he won't let one chapter of his life define him
Dozie's Notes
A few things that stuck with me as I listened through this week's conversation:
We sometimes assume or hope that stories like that of Dacious wrap up and end with some resolution that's all kumbaya. But real lives don't resolve that way as we often see in the feel-good movies. But it also doesn't mean that you can't stop trying to leave your mark. Dacious is proof you can put some good into the world while still carrying an open wound. And I'm beginning to think that's what integrating and finding belonging looks like.
A lot of newcomers pour themselves into work and activity the second they land, and we read it as drive. Sometimes it's just a person carrying way more than any of us can see. Especially because ambition and the grief from what we've lost can run on the same fuel. The tricky part is that the work keeps the grief at bay, so you rarely stop long enough to feel it. I'm not saying slow down, I know that's easier said than done. Just that it's worth knowing which one you're really running on.
Official Links
✅ Connect with Dacious Richardson on LinkedIn
✅ Read his story on why soccer is everything
✅ Support refugees as they build their lives in Canada
✅ Read UNHCR Canada's report, Refugees are Good for Canada
One Ask
If you found this story helpful, please consider sharing it with one Canadian immigrant you know.
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This episode is the first of a four-part series with the Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISSofBC), telling the stories of Vancouverites who were forced from their home countries by circumstances beyond their control, and who refuse to be defined by that one day.