Please support if you can:

Somali Refugee Family - finally slated to arrive in Canada!

In 2017, a group of Torontonians came together and were granted approval to sponsor Lul and four of her children to come to Canada.

At last it seems that Lul and her family are in the home stretch of what has been a long and arduous process. We hope to welcome them in Canada in the spring of 2023. As sponsors, we have paid all the legal costs associated with their applications and made significant personal financial commitments to support them when they arrive. But.. Toronto is not cheap. In 2022, the average monthly rent for a 3 bedroom apartment was over $4,000. Family members are eager to get working as soon as possible. But they will need significant support to get on their feet.

A bit of background:

Lul is a 58 year old Somali woman from the minority Wacdaan clan. She and 4 of her children, have been living in a UNHCR Refugee camp in Kampala, Uganda for almost 4 years waiting for their sponsorship to be processed.

The family’s struggles began in 2005 when their area was attacked by a more powerful clan. They lost their land and were forced to flee. Given the political situation in Somalia, the government was not strong enough (or necessarily inclined) to provide them with safety. They ended up making their way to Saudi Arabia where they lived as illegal migrants for the next 12 years. Blocked from seeking asylum through the United Nations in Saudi Arabia, they eventually made their way back to a UNHCR camp in Kampala, Uganda. Over the years, the family has endured tremendous hardship, including losing contact with Lul’s husband and her 4 other children.

Under the “Group of 5” private sponsorship program, sponsors sign a legal agreement guaranteeing that the Canadian government will not have to pay any costs associated with supporting the family. Despite this, Canada has instituted a yearly cap on sponsored refugees. That means that Lul and her family, and thousands of others, are forced to try to survive in refugee camps for years at a time before they come to Canada, even though their applications have already been approved.

We appreciate and thank you for any support you are able to give. All funds will go directly to the family to help them with rent, transportation, and basic costs of living once they arrive in Toronto.