Empress Deeqa is her stage name - Deeqa is her name. The 31 year old Montreal based reggae artist came to Canada as a refugee at the age of 11. Rewind back to 1991, Deeqa was attending a music lesson in a town on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia. She left her lesson only to find mayhem in the streets. Homebound, Deeqa was seized by one of her teachers and urged to get on a bus. She asked why she could not return home to her family in Mogadishu. That’s when she learned that there was no going back. The civil war had begun and right in front of her, her own teacher was killed. Amid the pandemonium Deeqa boarded the bus. They made the perilous jouney to the town of Kismayo and eventually to a refugee camp in Kenya. It was the people at Doctor’s Without Borders that helped the young girl make her way to Canada. Grateful to have been rescued from the carnage, Deeqa now was haunted by the fact that there was no reuniting with her family. The war had displaced people and there was no way to find them. Since 1991, Deeqa has rebuilt a life as a reggae singer and songwriter here in Canada, all the while holding on to the memory of her mother, brothers and sister - not knowing whether they were alive or dead. And then one day, in March of this year, she received a phone call that would change her life. A nephew who had made his way to Great Britain found a video of Deeqa performing on youtube. He managed to put her family in touch with her. Elated, Deeqa soon wondered what to do from here - unable to travel to Mogadishu for security reasons (the war rages on to this day), they are now trying to plan how and when to see each other again. Deeqa dreams of bringing her family to Canada though financial constraints impede any plans at the moment. For more info about Deeqa visit her facebook page, Empress deeqa.
Let us know if you have any stories about how you came to Canada.
