Marie Sia arrived in Montreal in 2019 after leaving Guinea and transiting through Gatineau and then Toronto. At every step, she had to go it alone in often unstable situations on a quest to simply find a place in which she could feel safe and catch her breath.
In 2024, an unexpected pregnancy upended her life. The baby’s father exited the picture within the first few weeks, leaving Marie Sia alone at a time that is already hard for any future mom. Her job as an orderly grew difficult because of health complications and she soon had to stop working. With no income, isolated, and no family close at hand, she kept going despite it all. “I didn’t even know how I was going to pay my rent,” she says.
It was a nurse from the CLSC, on a visit to her home, who first told her about Women on the Rise, a community agency that “helps women help themselves.” Marie Sia decided to go. She needed support badly.
A welcome that changed everything
As soon as she arrived, a calm came over her.
“I felt welcomed, really,” says Marie Sia.
“As if I didn’t have to be ashamed. They listened to me without judging me.”
The agency promptly offered Marie Sia her first food basket. She still remembers the day when she received a gift certificate to buy groceries: “It was the first time in a long time that I could buy myself meat. That day I ate, really ate.”
From that moment on, Women on the Rise became much more than a service. It was a place where she could breathe. A place where she found a form of stability — in material terms, naturally, but, above all, human.
Marie Sia also discovered the workshops the agency offers. There, she met other mothers, heard other stories, drew on other strengths. “I was isolated,” she says. “In my country, becoming pregnant without being married is frowned upon. I was no longer speaking to my family. When I found the other moms here, I regained a community.”
She learns things that have transformed her relationship with her baby: how to read his signals, how to talk to him, how to trust herself as a mom.
The help she receives is constant: clothing, food, advice, someone to listen, accompaniment to resources. Always with dignity, gentleness, and respect for her own pace.
Believing in her ability to go forward
Today her son is one. Marie Sia is finally making plans for the future. She dreams of going back to school, either in nursing or in social work—two paths offering a mirror reflection of her own: to be there for others, as others were there for her.
“If I managed to get through all that, others can too,” she says. “You should never be afraid to ask for help.”
For women newly arrived on these shores who are often alone and often well into their pregnancies, Marie Sia has some simple but powerful words: “We’re strong. Even when we don’t know it. And there are places like Women on the Rise to lift us.”
1 out of 5 people receives our help.
5 out of 5 people benefit from it.
Let’s all lend a hand
Supporting a network of over 375 community agencies also means promoting an inclusive, poverty-free society.