TIES Employee Celebrates 20 Years Welcoming Visitors with Grace and Strength

Her smile is the first thing visitors see.

A smile that has been lighting up the reception desk at TIES (The Immigrant Education Society) Forest Lawn location — for the past two decades!

“I like to learn about different people and cultures,” Zakia Sarwari says. “It gives me more happiness to be able to help newcomers.”

“TIES is also like my second family. Even when I take a day off, I’m missing all of my colleagues.”

Unfortunately, Zakia has been forced to take time off the past several years due to serious health issues.

“In 2019, I found a lump in my breast,” she says.

She fought her first round of breast cancer like a warrior. Unfortunately, the beast keeps coming back in various forms.

But so does her fight.

“I've always seen Zakia as someone who's very strong,” TIES LINC Program Manager Kerry Howard says.

“I think you have to be pretty brave to put on a happy face every single day. She’s taken this challenge, that she has, with a lot of grace and bravery.”

Zakia’s Personal Journey

Zakia Sarwari and her family moved to Canada in March of 2000. Originally from Afghanistan, she had been working in India for the past five years.‍

“I love Canada, and I also love to being here in Calgary,” she says.

“In Afghanistan, it's not a safe place for my family — especially my girls. They have no education, no school. This is the best place for me and for my kids to live in.”

After arriving in Canada with a banking background, she studied at CDI and Columbia College. She was hired at TIES in January 2006.

“It happened in three days; I got this position. I worked for 10 years doing the night shift and in July 2015, I got the full-time position.”

Zakia’s TIES Journey

Kerry Howard first met Zakia in 2012 when he came into TIES for a job interview. He says she has been a great asset to him from the very start.

"I was teaching in the evening, and she was a huge help to me. Especially in my first week of teaching literacy when I didn't know what was going on in the class, or what the students were saying."

Howard says years later, Zakia is still invaluable in her position as Intake Receptionist.

“She knows a lot about the programs that we have,” he points out. “She’s great at referring clients to different programs.”

“She also speaks the language of many of our clients, so she's able to get them more information in their own language. That really helps and adds an extra layer of support for them.”

“I love working at TIES. Especially all of the positive words I get from my colleagues,” Zakia says.

The Journey Continues

That positive reinforcement has gone a long way.

Zakia recently celebrated 20 years — two decades — at TIES. Despite years of chemo, surgeries, and often debilitating pain, she has remained focused on her job.

“I have to take chemo every three weeks for a lifetime,” she points out. “But I just request my oncologist to give me chemo on Fridays so that I can rest on Saturday and Sundays at home, and then to come to work on Monday.”

“When I'm leaving my house, when I'm getting close to TIES, if I feel any pain it disappears as soon as I get there. I just don't feel any pain in my body anymore.”

“She hasn't really skipped a beat unless she's been forced to be off by the doctor,” Howard says.  

“She's tried to keep her career intact and keep herself happy. I think coming to work is one of the things that keeps her going. It takes a special kind of person to be there through it all.”

“I love working at TIES. I just, I don't want to miss any, like, a day without TIES.”

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Media RSVP, Interviews & Inquiries:

Tomasia DaSilva

Media and Relationship Strategist

Email: tomasiadasilva@immigrant-education.ca

Phone: 403-291-0002