North America The Dream Land
Thirty Eight Years Later

My self: Lidia Ammirato and Enzo Scornaienchi: On February 06, 1968, that is the date when we left the port of Naples, in Italy. For this adventure my thanks and my thoughts go to my parents “Filippo Ammirato and Catina Ciardullo financial help to make this dream possible”; My husband Enzo Scornaienchi and I, Lidia Ammirato came to Canada to the dream land,were most people had a vision of a better life, the land of employment opportunities. Canada The Free Country. My parents invested their saving to give us this opportunity of a better life. Grazie cara mamma e`caro papa`. I also wish to keep alive the memories of my grandmother, a wonderful person.  

Nonna Teresa Guaraschio

My Grandmother was a devoted wife and mother. She was a courageous women, born 1885, died Oct. 15, 1963.  

The Civil World War I of 1914 to 1918 left her a widower with three children, and one on the way to love and take care of. She didn’t have a lot food to put on the table for them, the mission and goals were their survival. So every morning she gathered her little children to help her cultivating the field, feed the chickens, fetch water at the spring called Pietra of Margerita. And take care of the live stock. The field was the only source of income and key to their survival during the depression of the time. Most of their meals were potatoes, vegetables, beans, eggs, corn meal and corn bread. My grandmother never got remarried, she was a respectful women with a strong sense of will power, most of all she had faith in God that tomorrow would bring a better day for her children. And so it did, with the exemption of her youngest son named Ercole who died at the Second Civil World War II of the 1939 t0 1945. Other than that her wishes came true, her children grew up to be highly respected individuals in the community of Dipignano, as they would have been in any other place in the world.

The Trip To Canada

Back to the recollections of my journal regarding our trip to Canada, the trip was a beautiful voyage. we were aboard a great liner, a giant ship weighing 29.191 gross tons, which cared 1,055 passengers across the Atlantic Ocean. Its beauty profile, tall and narrow, stretched at 700 Feet (216.6m) as it sailed across the Atlantic Ocean at service speed of 23 knot’s. This intimidating ship named Cristoforo Colombo, it seamed like a village swimming on water.

Making the trip once in a life time experience, once we were at sea all we could see was water and more water. Once in a while we saw groups of dolphins catching the waves. It was a long trip with a stop of three hours in Lisbon Portugal, and then back to a stretch of water. When we reached Gilbilterra we knew we were far away from our small village Dipignano.

A village of 4,500 inhabitant, which sits on a slope reaching 720 meters altitude of the sea level, 39 degree north, 16 degree east, 13 kilometers from the center of the Peninsula in the province of Cosenza South of Italy our home land? There were a lot of mixed emotions at this point in time. Seasickness was one of them, at the time we were also expecting our first child, so it was difficult to identify causes of temporary sickness.  

On February twenty seven we reached the harbor front of Halifax in Nova Scotia passing through large patches of ice the ship sailed her way through, and slowly ducked at Pier 21. Now every one aboard clapped with a cheer, We Are Here! We Are Here! We were rushing gathering our belonging wearing a tag with our name and the name of the destination we were about to go. Then we sat for a few hours in Pier 21 Hall, we ate the last snacks left in our traveling bag, mingled with the people we traveled with, and wished good luck to those going else were, Then we stood on a line, were a very polite officer screened us and stamped our traveling documents, he greeted us with a care package and a smile as he said “welcome to Canada”. At that time we didn’t speak any English, but there were plenty translator’s to guide us through.  

Then we heard an announcement over the P.A. system that the train to Montreal was scheduled for three o` clock. The train, had got there a little early so we got on that train, heading to Montreal station where we took a transfer to Toronto, again we were rushing gathering our traveling bags, to board the train to Toronto which took almost two days. On that train I ended up loosing my 18 karate’s gold bracelet that my Godmother gave to me as a gift, I was very upset about it, until we reached Toronto Union station, were we found our relatives. They had sponsored our staying in Canada until we got established on our feet, then we were on our own. So after greeting everyone we got in a fancy car that belonged to a relative. He drove us through the big city lights toward the East end of Toronto, the Danforth and Pape Avenue area. Our first address was a room on the attic at 146 Fulton Ave, Toronto Ontario. That year the weather was bitterly cold, lot’s of snow that lasted until the late spring. The summer went by pretty fast, with some picnics in the nearby parks, and a few trips to the Riverdale Zoo, on November 13, 1968. The day that our little baby girl Sandy Elviriana Scornaienchi arrived. It was the day of the winter’s first snowfall and the beginning of another cold winter.

Our journey to the new land actually began in the spring; when my husband found employment with a landscaping company, those earnings were our first family income. My self I was just turning nineteen years of age on April 29,1968. And by that time I was almost half term with the pregnancy so was very hard for me to find work. I must thank the staff at the manpower centre office at 200 Dundas street East in Toronto, and also the Costi Program, a program for new comers to learn the basics of the English language, On April 20, 1968 just before my nineteen birthday I started to attend evening classes at Brockton public school on Dufferin Ave and Bloor Street West in Toronto. The program was great, the organization’s provided the students with a small allowance for the bus fare, plus writing and reading material, pen’s pencils, binders, books magazines to read. My special thanks go to Costi. It is because of their assistance today I can sit in front of my computer and write this short memoir note of my journey to the dream land in English. The grammar may not be accurate, but that is my reflection and also the way I speak, so I love it. I must say going to the night school was one of the most rewarding step’s I ever took in my life. It really helped me maintaining my level of self-esteem, and social skills. Learning to live the life in a big City really is a bridge between then and now. Today I work as a fashion processor associate for a giant retailer, I take great pride to be a Canadian Citizen, with my beautiful Canadian family, We Have two wonderful daughter’s. Sandy and Lolita we are very proud of, two wonderful sons in laws, and three precious granddaughters, just priceless.  

A Dream Can Be Real, Most Of the Time

 By: Lidia Ammirato/Scornaienchi