Sometimes, the road less travelled is the road that takes you where you need to be. This may be the case for a young couple from Bogota, Colombia who have found themselves working with Dr. Clarke Hill and Dr. Christine Ewert-Hill at Head for the Hills veterinary clinic in Carlyle and Redvers.
Rafael Pineda and Karen Cadena left their home in Colombia just three years ago to pursue a new life in Canada. They had a dream of moving to the northern country for many years and one day things just fell into place for them to come.
"We were working at a vet clinic in Colombia," said Rafael, as he began to tell the story of how he and Karen came to live in Canada. "At that time we were just in a relationship and we were talking about what we wanted to do in the future. I was telling her that I wanted to come to Canada."In order for them to immigrate to Canada, Rafael and Karen would need to meet certain requirements. They would have to attain a minimum score, and one of the things where they would receive points is in educational background. This is where things started to fall into place.
"I had graduated in 2000 from veterinary medicine at UDCA [Universidad de Ciencias Aplicadas y Ambientales] in Colombia," Rafael explained.
His educational background as a professional veterinarian would give him a higher chance of being accepted to immigrate to Canada. And the fact Karen was attending university for veterinary medicine gave them an even better opportunity.
At that time - in 2006 - she received a letter from one of her teachers about job opportunities to come to Canada. There were spots for 15 veterinarians. The only requirement was to have a nice level of English."I was quite good at English at that time, and I was always interested to challenge myself to come to an Anglo-speaking country and live there," Rafael continued. "That is what I wanted to do."So, Rafael contacted the agency and began the process of immigrating to Canada. Six months after contacting the agency, Rafael was granted an interview with a man from human resources with Maple Leaf in Canada. He did well in the interview and the couple received their visas in August 2007."I came first because I wanted to set everything up for us," said Rafael. "I was the one with the job opportunity. I started working and she came in November 2007, two months after me."When first they moved to Canada, they lived in Hartney, MB. Rafael began working and Karen spent her time learning English.
"She really pushed herself and learned [lots]," said Rafael. "We asked [the] manager for a position for her and she started working at the barns too."They spent the next three years living and working in Hartney before the opportunity arose for them to pursue another career option, this time in SaskatchewanRafael and Karen had met the partner of a woman they both worked with the first Christmas they spent in Canada. The woman's boyfriend lived in Redvers and farmed. They became really good friends with him. "He knew about Dr. Clarke [Hill] and Dr. Christine [Ewert Hill]," Rafael explained. "He told me, 'Why don't you go talk to them? It would be nice if you could challenge the boards and get your vet license. So why don't you try to talk to them about it.'"Rafael and Karen wanted to ensure they were granted their landed immigrant status before approaching Dr. Clarke and Dr. Christine, therefore, quite some time passed before they actually spoke with the veterinarians working out of Carlyle and Redvers. When the received their landed immigrant status a few months ago, they wasted no time speaking with the two veterinarians. "I came here and talked to them about Karen and I, that we were interested in coming to work with them, if there were any job opportunities for us," Rafael explained. "I think we hit the right spot, because they are wonderful people and they were really open with us. They gave us this chance to come and work with them and we're really happy. This is a really nice opportunity to get in touch again with what we did before in our own country."Dr. Christine helped Rafael and Karen find a place to live in Redvers, and they recently moved in with their daughter, Khmilah. They are enthused about their new home and their new community.
In the coming weeks and months, people will no doubt see Karen and Rafael around the Carlyle and Redvers areas more and more, as they begin to settle into their new community and their new careers at Head for the Hills.
