Overview

The Arab Students Association is a resource at UBC that aims to reach out, help, and support all Arabs from all different faiths and backgrounds in the UBC community in various aspects of their campus life, from academic and career support, to mental health and wellbeing, but most important of all, we want everyone to have a sense of purpose–a sense of being part of something bigger here in this beautiful UBC community. We want to create a cozy ‘home-away-from-home’ environment to all Arabs, especially to those newcomers and Freshmen who might struggle to adapt to this completely new Vancouver setting and certainly challenging academic system of UBC. There are, of course, lots and lots of resources on campus which can be overwhelming sometimes, making it hard for students to find the exact resource they need. The Arab Student Association is a bridge linking Arab students to the plethora of resources available on campus. It will be much easier for newly arriving Arab students to get past many obstacles such as language barriers, legal ambiguities, and cultural shock by getting peer mentoring or support from upper year Arab students that might be able to relate more to them and their challenges. Moreover, we also recognized that Arabic culture, with all its rich history and deep-rooted traditions, has not been represented or shared with others the way it should. The Arab Student Association is a multicultural organization: the Arab World, in itself, has a great diversity of culture that ought to be celebrated and shared–from wholesome food to sentimental music to traditional dances, Arabic calligraphy, intricate arts and crafts.