Hi, my name is Léral. I am a South African singer, songwriter, vocal coach, and student at UBC. I have lived in Vancouver for 5 years now and it is my home. There is more to this story than I am comfortable sharing on here, but here is what is critical:

Funding has been cut from my schooling and daily life and I will have to leave Canada if I do not pay my tuition debt by December 31, 2023.

I’ve been trying to get out of this situation myself, but I’m realizing I do not have the capacity or resources to do it alone. My life here is in the hands of someone who has been incredibly abusive my whole life; someone who committed to financially supporting me through university and, without reason, has cut me off from all funding and communication.

I feel incredibly vulnerable posting this and asking for help, but what I keep coming back to is the potential for my community to lift me out of this hard time.

I have not been able to enrol in classes and am now $18,615.20 in debt to UBC. As an international student, this means I will be deported if I am unable to pay this debt. I only have 4 classes left to graduate.

In order to enrol in these final classes next term, I need an additional $18,000 by the end of December. This means a total of $36,615.20 to keep me here in Canada and finish my degree.

This is an incredibly large amount, but if each person who sees this forgoes the cost of a couple coffees ($10, $20, or $50), whatever you are willing to offer, I think we could do it. So this is me, with my hands outstretched to you — my friends, my neighbours, my community — asking for support.

You can send contributions here or if you are in Canada/US, e-transfer also works:

E-transfer/Zelle: leralmarie[atgmaildotcom] (the email is altered so that it can be written here)

I am eternally grateful. At this point, it is not just about paying off my debt. This is about freeing myself from a controlling, abusive situation and having a safe, independent future.

With deepest gratitude,

Léral