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Dear friend,
Thank you for taking the time to read read this brief story and I pray that you will be able to help in this long journey. My name is Felecia Wiebe. I will start my account from eighteen years ago when I was living in Liberia, a small country in Western Africa. My childhood had been torn apart by the chaos and terror of a war in which no one knew who the enemy was or why we were fighting. My mother, who was in her late forties when I was born, was struggling to raise five daughters. She worked hard to shield us from the horrors all around us and would explain to me that all the dead bodies on the street were really just sleeping people. After a lot of internal struggles my mother decided to entrust me to a family in the capital city who would be able to provide a place for me to live and go to school. At first the family sent me to school and although they were very physically abusive I was able to have a place to live. Then when my body began to mature the husband began to sexually abuse me too. This was a terrifying period of my life because he promised to kill me if I told anyone what he was doing. I tried telling his wife who at first didn't believe me. When I was thirteen years old my stomache began to grow suddenly and I found out that not only had he taken my virginity I was now pregnant. After the pregnancy became evident, my life became unbearable as they forced me into suclusion to prevent the community from learning what was happening in the house. Many times I was beaten severely and was no longer allowed to attend school.
Exactly on my fourteenth birthday I give birth, because they did not want anyone to know what happened, my baby was born in their house with no medical help. It is truly a miracle that I survived that day. The next morning I was told that my baby had died and that I was no longer allowed to live in their house anymore. Barely able to walk, I ended up at an outdoor market house where I thought I would die. A woman, who I believe was an angel, found me and brought me to a hospital where she paid to have the placenta removed and I received medical help. While my childhood had been filled with memories of playing with my cousins and friends I was now mentally and emotionally broken and too ashamed to return to my family whom I blamed for my condition. I ended up in an orphanage where I was too traumatised to share my story due to the stigma around sexual abuse. Then just as I was somewhat comfortable at the orphanage it was overrun by the Rebel Army who destroyed what they could and stole all our supplies. The Bishop in charge of the orphanage told us all to leave as there was nothing left for us. A local family convinced me to join them on a trip to the nearby country of Ghana where they promised to help bring me to America. While we were waiting at the ship loading dock getting ready to flee the country we were caught in the crossfire between the government and rebel armed forces. People were jumping into the water and drowning. Then, when people, literally beside me, started dying from gunshot wounds I ran down the dock and jumped at the boat where someone leaned over the side of the boat and caught me before I fell into the ocean.
The trip to Ghana was my first ever in a large ship and many people didn't survive the trip. Once at the camp I quickly found out that I would not be going to America after all. I found myself in a refugee camp, in a foreign country, all alone and only 15 years old. The camp was a brutal and desperate place where STDs, suicide and abuse was rampant. Then the Lord gave me a vision to start a mission organization to bring hope, love, and fellowship to many desperate, hungry and distraught people. "Vision of Hope" was the title God gave to me and it soon grew to include a feeding program, clothing program, women's group, soccer team, many revival retreats and involvement with several churches on the refugee camp. The Lord miraculously provided funding from people around the world. One day I met Karen, a lady from Steinbach, who was interested in starting a mission in Western Africa. On our very first meeting I asked her to adopt me as her spiritual and physical daughter. One day when Karen was back in Canada, she felt what she descibes as birth pains and The Lord revealed to her that she would be my mother. This was the start of a long journey together and she now has a mission organization in Liberia that she has called "ProVision of Hope". Through Karen's help a group from Manitoba and Ontario sponsored me to come to Canada. After filling out all the immigration applications and medical exams I came in contact with my sister who had returned to Liberia after also fleeing the country. This was when I discovered that my mother and sisters never really knew of the abuse I had suffered. I revealed to my sister that I had given birth to a child but was unsure what actually happened. My sister went to the family's house only to find a small girl who looked like an identical, five year old, version of me. After taking a DNA sample to confirm the obvious, my sister revealed to me that I had a daughter! In honour of my sister who helped find my daughter, I named her Christiana. Her african name is Lemu which means "My heart". I was shocked and unsure what to do. There was no record of Lemu in any of my immigration forms and I was told by my mentor to not change any information or risk a failed immigration application. There were many risks to remaining on the refugee camp and I was too scared to put my life in continual danger. When I finally built up the courage to update my application to include my daughter, the immigration officer in charge of my case at the embassy had returned to Canada. I returned to the embassy several times but was unable to change my application before my flight was scheduled to my new home in Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada.
Shortly after arriving in Canada I started the application to bring Lemu too. Trying to deal with the huge culture and climate change was a lot to deal with and I was unsure of how to proceed with bringing my daughter. After living in Canada for just over two years I met a Canadian man, Kevin, who eventually became my husband. Our immigration application for Lemu was denied solely on the grounds that she wasn't on the original documents. We attempted an appeal with the belief that a DNA test would be requested in order to confirm my daughter's identity. Unfortunately the appeal was almost immediately denied with virtually no chance to argue our case. It seemed a precident had been established in our case and over the last 6 years we have met with countless immigration workers who have been unable to bring our case to light. Lemu is now 16 years old and has an unbelievable desire to spend time with our other children whom she has never been able to touch.
Recently a new and exciting door was open and revealed to us. We applied and she has been accepted to attend high school right here in our hometown! We are extremely excited and are anxiously looking forward to her arrival. Right now we are desperately asking for your financial help to bring our daughter home! As an international student, one year of tuition is set at $13,300. Our family is grateful for any financial help you are willing to provide and we would never forget your generosity! Once Christiana Lemu is living with us in our home we will proudly introduce her to you who has made this incredible family reunion possible!
Thank you for your support.
Kevin, Felecia, Lemu, Darius, Kalesha and Jason.
Thank you for taking the time to read read this brief story and I pray that you will be able to help in this long journey. My name is Felecia Wiebe. I will start my account from eighteen years ago when I was living in Liberia, a small country in Western Africa. My childhood had been torn apart by the chaos and terror of a war in which no one knew who the enemy was or why we were fighting. My mother, who was in her late forties when I was born, was struggling to raise five daughters. She worked hard to shield us from the horrors all around us and would explain to me that all the dead bodies on the street were really just sleeping people. After a lot of internal struggles my mother decided to entrust me to a family in the capital city who would be able to provide a place for me to live and go to school. At first the family sent me to school and although they were very physically abusive I was able to have a place to live. Then when my body began to mature the husband began to sexually abuse me too. This was a terrifying period of my life because he promised to kill me if I told anyone what he was doing. I tried telling his wife who at first didn't believe me. When I was thirteen years old my stomache began to grow suddenly and I found out that not only had he taken my virginity I was now pregnant. After the pregnancy became evident, my life became unbearable as they forced me into suclusion to prevent the community from learning what was happening in the house. Many times I was beaten severely and was no longer allowed to attend school.
Exactly on my fourteenth birthday I give birth, because they did not want anyone to know what happened, my baby was born in their house with no medical help. It is truly a miracle that I survived that day. The next morning I was told that my baby had died and that I was no longer allowed to live in their house anymore. Barely able to walk, I ended up at an outdoor market house where I thought I would die. A woman, who I believe was an angel, found me and brought me to a hospital where she paid to have the placenta removed and I received medical help. While my childhood had been filled with memories of playing with my cousins and friends I was now mentally and emotionally broken and too ashamed to return to my family whom I blamed for my condition. I ended up in an orphanage where I was too traumatised to share my story due to the stigma around sexual abuse. Then just as I was somewhat comfortable at the orphanage it was overrun by the Rebel Army who destroyed what they could and stole all our supplies. The Bishop in charge of the orphanage told us all to leave as there was nothing left for us. A local family convinced me to join them on a trip to the nearby country of Ghana where they promised to help bring me to America. While we were waiting at the ship loading dock getting ready to flee the country we were caught in the crossfire between the government and rebel armed forces. People were jumping into the water and drowning. Then, when people, literally beside me, started dying from gunshot wounds I ran down the dock and jumped at the boat where someone leaned over the side of the boat and caught me before I fell into the ocean.
The trip to Ghana was my first ever in a large ship and many people didn't survive the trip. Once at the camp I quickly found out that I would not be going to America after all. I found myself in a refugee camp, in a foreign country, all alone and only 15 years old. The camp was a brutal and desperate place where STDs, suicide and abuse was rampant. Then the Lord gave me a vision to start a mission organization to bring hope, love, and fellowship to many desperate, hungry and distraught people. "Vision of Hope" was the title God gave to me and it soon grew to include a feeding program, clothing program, women's group, soccer team, many revival retreats and involvement with several churches on the refugee camp. The Lord miraculously provided funding from people around the world. One day I met Karen, a lady from Steinbach, who was interested in starting a mission in Western Africa. On our very first meeting I asked her to adopt me as her spiritual and physical daughter. One day when Karen was back in Canada, she felt what she descibes as birth pains and The Lord revealed to her that she would be my mother. This was the start of a long journey together and she now has a mission organization in Liberia that she has called "ProVision of Hope". Through Karen's help a group from Manitoba and Ontario sponsored me to come to Canada. After filling out all the immigration applications and medical exams I came in contact with my sister who had returned to Liberia after also fleeing the country. This was when I discovered that my mother and sisters never really knew of the abuse I had suffered. I revealed to my sister that I had given birth to a child but was unsure what actually happened. My sister went to the family's house only to find a small girl who looked like an identical, five year old, version of me. After taking a DNA sample to confirm the obvious, my sister revealed to me that I had a daughter! In honour of my sister who helped find my daughter, I named her Christiana. Her african name is Lemu which means "My heart". I was shocked and unsure what to do. There was no record of Lemu in any of my immigration forms and I was told by my mentor to not change any information or risk a failed immigration application. There were many risks to remaining on the refugee camp and I was too scared to put my life in continual danger. When I finally built up the courage to update my application to include my daughter, the immigration officer in charge of my case at the embassy had returned to Canada. I returned to the embassy several times but was unable to change my application before my flight was scheduled to my new home in Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada.
Shortly after arriving in Canada I started the application to bring Lemu too. Trying to deal with the huge culture and climate change was a lot to deal with and I was unsure of how to proceed with bringing my daughter. After living in Canada for just over two years I met a Canadian man, Kevin, who eventually became my husband. Our immigration application for Lemu was denied solely on the grounds that she wasn't on the original documents. We attempted an appeal with the belief that a DNA test would be requested in order to confirm my daughter's identity. Unfortunately the appeal was almost immediately denied with virtually no chance to argue our case. It seemed a precident had been established in our case and over the last 6 years we have met with countless immigration workers who have been unable to bring our case to light. Lemu is now 16 years old and has an unbelievable desire to spend time with our other children whom she has never been able to touch.
Recently a new and exciting door was open and revealed to us. We applied and she has been accepted to attend high school right here in our hometown! We are extremely excited and are anxiously looking forward to her arrival. Right now we are desperately asking for your financial help to bring our daughter home! As an international student, one year of tuition is set at $13,300. Our family is grateful for any financial help you are willing to provide and we would never forget your generosity! Once Christiana Lemu is living with us in our home we will proudly introduce her to you who has made this incredible family reunion possible!
Thank you for your support.
Kevin, Felecia, Lemu, Darius, Kalesha and Jason.