From Four Continents to One Community: A Founder’s Journey of Global Citizenship

The Ramadan food market bustled with life as families moved between vendors selling everything from traditional Nigerian jollof rice to Middle Eastern baklava. Children darted between stalls while parents caught up in multiple languages, creating the kind of vibrant multicultural scene that transforms any space into a celebration of diversity. At the center of it all stood Sa’adatu Usman, watching with quiet satisfaction as her vision of community connection came alive.

But this scene in St. John’s represents more than successful event planning. It embodies the culmination of a journey that has taken Sa’adatu across four continents, through countless new beginnings, and ultimately to the founding of Global Citizen Incorporated—an organization born from the understanding that being a newcomer, while challenging, offers unique insights into building inclusive communities.

“Being a newcomer so many times, it’s a struggle,” Sa’adatu reflects, her voice carrying the weight of experience gained through starting over in Nigeria, the United States, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, and finally Canada. “Every time I start over, there’s something new, there’s a new possibility, there is new opportunities, there is new people for me to meet.”

“Every time I start over, there’s something new, there’s a new possibility. I remember how hard it was to find belonging, community—even food—during my first few years as an expat.”

Each relocation taught Sa’adatu different lessons about adaptation, resilience, and the complex dance between preserving identity and embracing change. In South Korea, she learned how cultural humility could open doors that credentials alone couldn’t unlock. In the UAE, she discovered how expatriate communities could support each other across national and cultural boundaries. In the United States, she experienced both the opportunities and limitations of multiculturalism in action.

But it was her arrival in St. John’s in 2022 that crystallized these experiences into a vision for something transformative. Here, in Canada’s easternmost city, Sa’adatu recognized an opportunity to apply everything she had learned about newcomer experiences to create the kind of community support she had wished for during her own transitions.

“I remember how hard it was to find belonging, community—even food—during my first few years as an expat,” she recalls. Those memories of isolation, of navigating unfamiliar systems alone, of searching for connection in places where difference was noticed but not necessarily embraced, became the foundation for her commitment to ensuring other newcomers would have different experiences.

Rather than telling people what they need, she wants to ask people what they need, and provide the resources to help settle in. This approach reflects Sa’adatu’s understanding that effective newcomer support requires listening to communities rather than imposing solutions upon them.

Global Citizen Incorporated emerged from Sa’adatu’s recognition that settlement and integration services often focus on helping newcomers adapt to existing systems rather than examining how those systems might be improved to better serve diverse populations. Her organization takes a different approach, one that sees newcomers as contributors rather than recipients, as community builders rather than community burdens.

The Ramadan food market exemplifies this philosophy in action. Rather than organizing a generic multicultural fair, Sa’adatu created programming that emerged from specific community needs—in this case, the desire of Muslim families to connect during a sacred time while also sharing their traditions with the broader community.

“It’s to engage people and just give them spaces to thrive,” Sa’adatu explains, describing her organization’s mission. This simple statement contains a profound understanding: that thriving requires more than survival, that engagement creates belonging in ways that tolerance never can, that space must be created intentionally for authentic community participation.

Sa’adatu’s work extends beyond adult newcomers to address the unique challenges facing young people navigating cultural identity in diverse societies. Her programming for junior high school students focuses on helping them understand themselves as global citizens whose multicultural perspectives are strengths rather than complications.

“So I am teaching them to embrace themselves. Be who you are,” Sa’adatu explains, describing youth empowerment work that addresses the self-worth struggles she has observed among children facing racism in schools. Her approach recognizes that anti-racism work must include helping young people develop strong, positive identities that can withstand discrimination while contributing to community strength.

“So I want kids to incorporate that into their daily lives and say, ‘Yes, this is who I am. I am beautiful and I am good enough.’” This message of self-acceptance combined with global citizenship creates young leaders who see their multicultural identities as assets to be shared rather than differences to be hidden.

Sa’adatu’s vision for Global Citizen Incorporated extends beyond immediate newcomer support to long-term community transformation. Her experience living in multiple countries has shown her how exposure to diverse perspectives strengthens communities, how global thinking improves local problem-solving, how authentic multiculturalism creates innovation and resilience.

The organization’s success in creating authentic multicultural programming has attracted attention from other communities throughout Atlantic Canada. Schools, healthcare organizations, and government agencies now consult with GCI when developing policies and programming intended to serve diverse populations.

Standing in the community center where families continue to gather monthly for multicultural brunches, where children play together across language barriers, where adults form friendships that support them through challenges and celebrations alike, Sa’adatu embodies her own vision of global citizenship in action.

Her journey from newcomer to community leader demonstrates that effective immigrant support creates leaders rather than dependents, builds capacity rather than just meeting needs, transforms communities rather than just helping individuals adapt to existing conditions.

“It’s to engage people and just give them spaces to thrive,” she reiterates, watching as families from dozens of different countries share food, stories, and laughter in the space that has become a symbol of what inclusive community can look like.