By Frederick Halley
NARINE Dat Sookram’s phenomenal achievements over the years have been recently described as “rare.” The Guyana-born is credited with winning over 200 prestigious awards, his most recent being the Spirit of Angela Award from Brescia University, Owensboro, Kentucky, USA.

In glowing introductory remarks at the January 27 presentation ceremony, Narine was exalted for his volunteerism over the years, which started as a 14-year-old growing up in Berbice, Guyana.
According to Associate Professor of Social Work, Elaine Wright, “Narine is passionate about societal well-being and exemplifies the spirit of Angela in his personal endeavours and professional life. During his time in the MSW programme at Brescia, he has demonstrated his commitment to academic excellence in the classroom as well as in his advocacy for social justice.”

Among his most treasured award has been the Public Peace Prize, won in 2016 from a field that included the likes of Pope Francis and Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani activist for female education and Nobel Peace Prize advocate.

This award is the only distinction in the world focused on recognising people and initiatives working for peace that are proposed, nominated and validated by the public.

On being presented with the award, Sookram was described as an excellent example of the rich social and economic contributions made by immigrants. The huge number of letters of support sent in showed the trust and gratitude of those who have crossed paths with him from across Canada. These letters came mostly from fellow citizens confronted with the same challenges of integration into an adopted country and have led him to be awarded the 2016 Public Peace Prize for Social Integration and Community Peacemaker.

Sookram has been an excellent role model for the immigrant population in Canada. In 2015, he was named one of RBC’s Top 25 Canadian immigrants for the continued support to other immigrants for more than 20 years. His attitude is one of acceptance and openness towards all, rich or poor, regardless of their social status.  He makes everyone feel special and worthy by bringing out strengths that people often don’t know they have.

He has exceptional mentoring skills, which he uses to help businesswomen in Third World countries as well as internationally trained professionals here in Canada. In 2013, Sookram received the World of Difference 100 Award, making him the first North American to receive this honour in the category of Championing Women’s Economic Empowerment.

By connecting with the community, new immigrants realise the resources available to them that were put in place to make them feel welcome, safe and accepted.

“Youth are the leaders of tomorrow and this is something we have to be conscious of. Youth especially in today’s world, are full of fresh ideas and, as a social service worker, it is my obligation to empower them,” he explained. Although Narine feels a certain responsibility and tenderness towards youth, he not only passes his wisdom to them but to newcomers of all ages. He encourages new immigrants to move out of their comfort zone and use the resources their community offers because that “will determine [their] failures and successes.”

As soon as he migrated from Guyana some two decades ago, he formed a non-profit organisation as a continuation of a group he’d founded in Guyana. At the young age of 14, he started a youth group to bring kids together to share ideas so that everyone could contribute to building a better village.  The organisation in Canada aims to help schoolchildren in Guyana and to promote its rich cultural heritage here, and is called Active Vision Charity Association. One of the schools in Guyana has named its library after his organisation.

According to Sookram, volunteering has been part of his daily life since childhood, and he considers it a value for him. He has been recognised for his volunteerism locally in his hometown of Waterloo, where he received the Waterloo Award, the city’s highest civic honour.

In his province of Ontario, he was awarded the June Callwood Outstanding Achievement Award for Volunteerism and is also the recipient of The Sovereign’s Medal, which is Canada’s highest award for volunteers.

A first-generation to enter and thrive in higher education, Narine is highly motivated to make a difference after migrating to Canada in the early 90s, during a recession and finding work was difficult. That personal experience gave him a personal dream to pay it forward.

In 2003, Narine saw the need for a West Indian radio show in the Waterloo region of Ontario, Canada, and “Carribean Spice Radio” was born. Narine realised that something was missing and he wanted the West Indians in Canada to feel a sense of home. The radio show aims to promote, entertain, educate, and keep that sense of “home” alive through radio. It has captured listeners both in Canada and internationally and has become the only radio programme to receive the “CKMS Sonic Boom People’s Choice awards for “Favourite Caribbean Music” and “Favorite Word Music.” Narine credits the secret to the success of the show is to build a good relationship with listeners.

Narine, who is also a Licensed Diversity & Inclusion Trainer, is spending time to educate businesses and landlords so that they can see everyone as one or simply as humans and don’t label anyone to be different or unworthy for giving a chance to live in a safe space that they can call home. He states that many landlords and even other businesses are working in the blind spot, meaning they are not being inclusive when it comes to newcomers, but still carry on as if everything they do is perfect, which is far from the truth.

Sookram was born and raised at Number 65 Village, but grew up at Number 64 Village, Berbice, Guyana. He lived right by the Number 63 Village close to the New Market Primary School, where his family had a successful business cake shop. During his childhood days, he was an active member at the Number 64 Krishna Mandir (Hindu Temple) and at one point, was the assistant priest at the age of 14. He attended New Market Primary School and Tagore Memorial Secondary School before migrating to Canada in 1993.

Narine is the last child of seven children and the first to have completed post-secondary and post-grad education. He graduated with several degrees, including a Master of Social Work from Brescia University, Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Manitoba, Bachelor of Professional Arts from Athabasca University, Bachelor of Education in Adult Education from Brock University, Social Service Worker Diploma from Mohawk College, Post-Grad in Career Development from Conestoga College and has recently been accepted for the Doctor of Social Work from Capella University in which he’ll start Summer this year.
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