I’ve been supporting three families recently and we could use your help to keep going.

Here’s some information on the families and what their plans are for your contributions!

1. One newcomer family of former refugees is saving up for the dad to get an A class driver’s license to pursue his dream of driving a tractor-trailer. The training alone costs 5k!! But once he has this license, it will allow him to better support his wife and two girls during the cost of living crisis and beyond. We first met when I sponsored him in 2016. He has worked so so hard to settle in Canada, being his wife and daughter here from east Africa, and have another baby! He is a doting father and has overcome so much since leaving the refugee camp that he grew in. He has the sweetest family and I’m honoured to be an auntie to his girls.

2. One queer refugee single mum needs support for family reunification. She’s currently in Canada with her baby son, and is working on bringing her daughter to join them. Funds will be used to get her daughter a passport, shipping original birth certificates to Canada, a flight from Central Africa and any other expenses that may be incurred with this family reunification. Funds may also be used for daycare for her toddler, health care not covered under the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP), education costs for her to get an Ontario secondary school diploma, and more. She has had a particularly challenging life as a queer person in a homophobic society and then seeking asylum in a very anti-Black country, but is so resilient, generous and kind despite it all. When she can, she sends remittances to both her bio family and her extended chosen family of other LGBTQIA+ asylum seekers. We met through connections in a Covid conscious group (bisous Lygia!). Lygia then introduced me to Anne and Lori who live in San Francisco, who met her thorough another LGBGTQ African refugee whom they sponsored through Rainbow Railroad. We are now a little chosen family of lesbians (let’s go lesbians!!) and I’m so grateful to be a “Tata” (auntie) to her son… and look forward to being the same for her daughter once she joins us in Canada!

3. One single mum with a toddler who is also caring for her disabled mother. Having recently fled a financially and otherwise abusive relationship, she has rent arrears to pay to keep her child, her mum and herself housed. She is currently finishing school and launching a business to stay afloat. Funds may also be used for medical costs incurred by her mum who has been on long term leave for many surgeries. This is my cousin, her baby and my Aunt. Many of you know I was my Aunt’s caregiver after one of her surgeries last year… and I hold her so dearly. She has helped heal so many parts of my inner child and I’m so grateful to her.

Please please support! My goal is 5K each, which would be so life affirming for these beautiful families.

If you’d like, as a thank you, I will mail you (anywhere in the world!) your choice of the following cyanotype art:

- a bookmark

- a postcard with a personalized note

- a blank postcard for you to send to your family, friends, lovers, neighbours, or painful situationship… lol

($5 CAD minimum donation for an art piece). Comment on your donation or email me [email redacted] to let me know what you’d prefer :).

If you’re wondering, “how is this for your birthday??” … well, it would help me focus on supporting these families that I love with non material things since they will have a better baseline of stability. And that is the best birthday present a girl could get!

If you weren’t gonna give me a birthday gift this year, please reconsider… you will be sooo blessed and happy going forward knowing you’ve contributed to this mutual aid effort. You could even think of it as a form of indulgence from the Middle Ages before they became corrupt… I digress.

If you don’t know me and don’t care that it’s my birthday, but feel compelled to contribute anyway because of the great needs of these families… Thank you!!! Your generosity means so much to them and me.

Ok un grand merci!!!!