URGENT Support for Moonga's Family & Friends

We are heartbroken to announce the sudden and tragic passing of Michael Moonga Chiimba on Friday, December 10.  Moonga was 33 years old. On Thursday evening, he sought emergency mental health services at a Toronto hospital. He was assessed and told to come back in the morning. He never made it back. The details of what happened to Moonga are incredibly upsetting, and described further below.

 

We are raising funds to cover the significant costs associated with sending Moonga and his belongings home to Zambia, and to support his family with funeral expenses, counseling and other needs. His mother’s financial and emotional well-being are a priority, especially in light of the recent deaths of Moonga’s father and sister.

 

A portion of the funds will also go to R & S, Moonga’s close friends and roommates, who found Moonga on Friday morning and have been without a home since. They need urgent support with moving costs, rent, trauma counseling and to make up lost income due to days off work.

 

A breakdown of costs is listed at the bottom of this page. All funds raised in excess of the fundraising goal will go to support Moonga’s family.

 

Moonga lived at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities. As a Black Zambian refugee and newcomer, he navigated complex and discriminatory systems designed to exclude and harm him. Yet, he sought to build a world centred in collective care, liberation, dignity and justice in all his relationships: to himself, to others, to the land, and in the community work he chose to do.

 

To meet Moonga was to love him. He had a gentle, thoughtful presence and a heart as big as his mind. Moonga was an artist and an intellectual who treated people, ideas and words with tremendous care. He was a loving son and brother and a deeply cherished friend.

 

Moonga always found so much joy in life, art, writing and community. He actively participated in a number of community-based programs and volunteered with initiatives supporting newcomers, Black youth, and other marginalized communities. He took a leadership role as a trained educator with the SOY Human Rights Equity Access Team, a project which brings together emerging youth leaders to work to address race relations and human rights. In 2017, Moonga helped to organize, facilitate, and perform in the “Here Is My Friend” community arts parade, a collaboration between Arts4All and the Davenport Perth Neighbourhood and Community Centre. Over the past year, Moonga had begun to write poetry and was teaching himself to play the piano.

 

Moonga first moved to Canada in 2006 to pursue an education, completing a degree in environmental engineering at the University of Manitoba. He was a voracious learner, and was pursuing a second degree in philosophy at York University. Moonga had planned to continue his studies and attend law school. Moonga was due to become a Canadian citizen shortly before the beginning of Covid, but that process was delayed. He had planned to return home for the first time in 15 years after receiving his citizenship, and spend a significant amount of time with family.

 

What follows is a difficult account of what occurred last week (Content Warning: Racism, Suicide, Mental Health).

 

On Wednesday evening, Moonga’s roommate R identified he was having a hard time but could not determine what was happening. She spent hours talking with him, reassuring him, never leaving his side. Moonga would become incoherent and whisper to himself. His symptoms fluctuated, and he seemed to be in and out of an episode, saying that he didn’t know what was real anymore. He disclosed that he had been having auditory and visual hallucinations as well. His symptoms escalated very quickly into what his friends believe was psychosis (he never received the treatment he needed or a diagnosis). On Thursday morning, Moonga was in and out of an episode, which escalated throughout the day. No one had ever seen him in such a state. His moments of clarity became fewer, and he became harder to communicate with. In his moments of clarity, he expressed his desire and willingness to get help. His friends R and A stayed with him, spending hours online and on hold with crisis centres. The centres said that Moonga did not qualify for their services, despite his friends stressing the urgency of the situation and the severity of his symptoms. At this point, he was in bed, completely unresponsive and visibly having hallucinations. His friends were told he did not qualify for a mobile crisis unit and advised to take him to a hospital emergency room, despite stating that they could not communicate with him and were unsure how to get him to leave. After about three hours of trying to get through to Moonga, they were able to leave for the hospital. Around 6:30 pm on Thursday, R and A took him to the emergency room. R stayed with him at the hospital. Moonga was given a room right away, but did not see a doctor until around 9 pm. They were told the emergency room psychiatrist had left at 8 pm. The doctor referred them to the mental health unit, to be seen by the mental health assessor. The practitioner said they could not do anything and that Moonga would have to wait until 9 am the next morning when the psychiatrist returned. R felt that had either she or Moonga been white, they would have received treatment. Moonga was discharged around 11 pm. R took Moonga home, he seemed calmer, they ate dinner, got ready for bed, and set their alarms for the next morning to return to the hospital. The next morning, R went to bring Moonga back to the hospital and found that he had taken his own life.

 

Moonga’s death is an injustice and an abject failure of the structural health care and mental health support he needed and deserved. We will be seeking to address this devastating injustice and will continue to update the community as it progresses and where support is needed. For now, we are focusing on Moonga's journey home, and care for R & S.

 

Arrangements are being made for a Toronto memorial to be held early in the new year and information will be provided to the community as soon as possible.

 

Thank you for your support.

 

We love you very much, Moonga.

 

***

 

Estimated Costs

Funeral home costs for sending Moonga home - $20,000+

Funeral costs in Zambia - TBD

Bereavement counseling for family - $10,000+

Supporting family lost income - $25,000+

Plane tickets - $4,000+

Shipping belongings - $4,000+

R & S moving costs, rent (first & last deposit) - $6,000+

Supporting R & S lost income - $7,000+

R & S trauma counseling - $9,000+

Counseling for friends facing financial hardship - $2,000+

Toronto memorial - $5,000+

Professional services (tax, legal, accounting) - $2,000+

Settling outstanding student loans - [confidential]

Funds raised will be managed by Kate Palumbo, a close personal friend of Moonga in Toronto. For all arrangements through the shipping funeral home (Toronto), Kate will directly release funds to cover the costs. For arrangements in Zambia (funeral costs, counseling, ongoing family support), international money transfers will be made to Moonga's sister, Mwiinga Chiimba. Mwiinga has approved the fundraising plan and will give authorization for fund withdrawals. For support to R & S, Kate will e-transfer payments to them directly. A finance oversight committee comprised of Thom Gill, Anne Campbell, Dave Young and Gabriel Rambert will meet regularly to approve all withdrawals made from the campaign, oversee the disbursement of funds, and establish the order of priority for different purposes for the funds. Money will be withdrawn on an ongoing needs basis and we will update the community when payments are made, and for what purpose. Transparency in this process is important to us.