When Mehdi Alishahi, an Energy Mentor with Kambo’s Empower Me program, arrived at Burnaby Neighbourhood House to help deliver a "Being Safe at Home” workshop for the Seniors Social Wednesday Group, he and his colleague quickly realized that most of the participants in the room were Persian seniors.
Although the workshop had originally been planned in English, Mehdi stepped in and began translating the presentation into Farsi on the spot to ensure everyone could fully participate. As soon as he did, the atmosphere in the room shifted. Participants who had been chatting together were suddenly glued to the front of the room. Two hours later, what began as a presentation had become an open conversation full of questions, shared experiences, and stories about the real challenges participants were facing in their homes.
This was Mehdi's first time helping lead an Empower Me workshop and the experience reinforced why offering multilingual energy education is crucial for engagement and trust. Having arrived in Canada just over a year ago, he knows firsthand what it feels like to navigate unfamiliar systems in a new country.
"There are a lot of things that are different from my own country, the culture, the rules, and instructions," he said.
When participants realized he understood their lived experience and wasn't there as an outsider looking in, this created an immediate sense of trust and connection. While many seniors in the room were familiar with English, hearing the workshop translated in real time helped them fully understand the technical information and created a sense of comfort and relief.
The trust unlocked communication. Seniors shared their personal stories while asking about managing humidity in cold apartments, overly sensitive smoke alarms, heating costs, mold, renter responsibilities, and what to do when landlords did not respond to safety concerns. Some spoke about struggling to understand their electricity bills or access information online. Others didn't know who was responsible for smoke alarms in rental units or how to raise maintenance concerns with landlords. Many of the questions reflected barriers that newcomers and seniors often face quietly: language access, digital literacy, unfamiliar housing systems, and uncertainty about where to turn.
"For seniors and newcomers, doing things online can feel overwhelming," said Mehdi. “The workshop became more than a place for seniors to receive information; it became a space where they felt comfortable enough to ask questions they may not have otherwise known where to ask.”
After the session ended, participants lingered. They continued speaking with Mehdi, exchanged contact information, and asked about more Empower Me workshops on topics like energy bills and costs. Many seniors specifically requested that future sessions be in person as they really enjoyed the social connection the session provided.
This community-building reflects what’s at the heart of Empower Me's Energy Mentor model. Many Energy Mentors are newcomers themselves, often navigating their first jobs in Canada while supporting others through unfamiliar systems and processes. By meeting participants where they are, linguistically, culturally, and emotionally, mentors like Mehdi create more than accessible information. They create connection, confidence, and spaces where people feel safe enough to participate fully. Workshops like this one demonstrate why trusted, community-based delivery works; not just because of what is shared, but because of who is sharing it.
For Mehdi, the experience was especially meaningful. Before coming to Canada, he was an English teacher, a music teacher, and an e-learning content creator. Teaching has always been his way of connecting with people, but he spent his first year in Canada without work. When he joined Empower Me, he says his confidence returned. Now, he channels that experience directly into the work.
"Working for Empower Me is an honour and I am proud of myself," Mehdi said. "When I can help people cope with obstacles in their life, it makes me very happy."
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