Bios

My name is Kamalini and I am 29 years old. I'm originally from Sri Lanka. I'm the fifth child in my family. I was born and grew up in Sri Lanka until the age of 18 and left my parents and siblings in Sri Lanka as I was trying to come to Canada. I was studying business studies and I couldn't finish high school as there was a civil war and everything stopped running.

After surviving the war with my family except my second elder sister who died in the war, we were taken to a refugee camp in Sri Lanka and all were detained for a few months. My husband and I had to escape from the camp by paying someone to help us get out. After we got safely out, we stayed at his relatives’ house for a few months and decided to come to Canada because it is so safe here. My husband and I went to Thailand in order to come to Canada since there is no other way to get here directly. We got on the big ship in Thailand with 492 people and arrived in Victoria, BC after 46 days at sea, on the 13th of August 2010. The Canadians were so kind and took care of us very well but we were all kept in detention. I was released from detention after 3 months after proving my identity.

I came and lived with a Tamil family until my husband was released from detention in March, 2011. After he came from detention, we got a nice place to rent in New Westminster BC. I started to work at a pizza place and Cash Money, and my husband was working at a Chevron gas station. We both worked day and night to build a future in Canada together. I had my first daughter in 2014. After getting permanent residency in 2018, I had a second baby girl. Now there were four of us and we needed a big place. We bought a condo in the Queensborough area in New Westminster.

Now I'm currently working for Telus as a sales consultant. We are living a happy life with our two beautiful daughters in this beautiful country.