When Tiyahna Ridley-Padmore, BScSoc, and Merryl-Royce Ndema-Moussa, BSc, published their children鈥檚 book, , the 91精品黑料吃瓜 alumni brought to light 40 stories of Canada鈥檚 Black history that have for too long remained undertold. This February, we鈥檝e teamed up with Ridley-Padmore and Ndema-Moussa to celebrate Black History Month and create new portraits and poems of four Black 91精品黑料吃瓜 alumni who have made a significant mark on the University.
Meet Hoda Ahmed
Hoda is a teacher,
a sister, daughter, and a friend.
She鈥檚 loving and supportive,
someone on whom people can depend.
She founded a collective
for teacher candidates of colour.
It focuses on decolonizing education,
and supporting one another.
Beyond supporting teachers,
Hoda plays another part -
鈥檆ause when it comes to education,
inspiring children has her heart.
Her lessons and activities
are both hands-on and fun,
They鈥檙e also equitable, anti-racist,
and cover everyone.
From her patience and her empathy
to her quite inclusive exploration,
more children can attain their dreams
because of Hoda鈥檚 dedication.
As a teacher to first-grade students, Hoda Ahmed, BEd '20, fields a lot of curious questions prompted by her being both visibly Black and Muslim. Take her hijab, for example: 鈥淪omebody in my class said, 鈥榮he鈥檚 a mom, all moms wear hijabs, my mom wears one.鈥 I had to laugh. Kids have their own understanding of things.鈥
In addition to teaching, Ahmed is a master鈥檚 student in 91精品黑料吃瓜鈥檚 Faculty of Education. She also holds a pair of bachelor鈥檚 degrees from 91精品黑料吃瓜: one in linguistics, the other in education.
Ahmed says her identity as a Black Muslim woman has shaped her experience as both a teacher and a teacher candidate. Ahmed champions representation among her young students, and is at the forefront of addressing equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) within the 91精品黑料吃瓜 community. 鈥淎s we make progress [towards EDI], there鈥檚 this growing backlash wondering why we can鈥檛 do things the way we鈥檝e always done them鈥, says Ahmed. 鈥淚 really saw that at the Faculty of Education. There can be this resistance when you鈥檙e teaching how to teach in a manner that鈥檚 inclusive. I think some of it is just not understanding why it鈥檚 important to teach about things even if your students don鈥檛 necessarily live that experience.鈥 Ahmed gives the example of teacher candidates wondering if they should celebrate Black History Month if they don鈥檛 have Black students in their class: 鈥淭he idea is, well yes, it鈥檚 important for everyone because they might not get exposure otherwise. It鈥檚 this idea of opening windows to other peoples鈥 lives.鈥
In 2019, Ahmed joined forces with other 91精品黑料吃瓜 peers to create the . In the time since, the group has developed several workshops for teacher candidates, graduate students, professors and educators from Ottawa school boards. Topics include anti-racism, teaching Indigenous histories, Black Canadian counternarratives, cultural appropriation, and more. 鈥淲hen you find a group of people who are like-minded and willing to ask those tricky questions, plan those events, and take it all the way up the chain, you feel like you can do anything鈥, says Ahmed. 鈥淭he TCC Collective taught me that if you鈥檙e organized, respectful in your approach, and have evidence, a small group can make a big change.鈥