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Bring a Tamil refugee to safety

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A young Tamil refugee, caught in a nightmare

Please help us sponsor Arun, a Tamil refugee who has been held in detention by Australia for the last six years. We are part of a sponsorship team that has already sponsored Manus detainee Shaminda Kanapadhi to come to Canada, and are now working to bring Arun and several other Tamil men on Manus to Canada as well.

There are many men from the Middle East, South Asia or Africa who are being held in detention on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea. These men have been detained by the Australian government for years, even though they have been assessed as valid refugees. The conditions are horrific; the United Nations has determined that the situation is dangerous, and that the physical and mental health of the men there is deteriorating with ongoing violence and daily incidents of self-harm.

One of these refugees is Arun (not his real name), a young Tamil man who was forced to flee his home, his family and his life in Sri Lanka. His "crime"? He was accused of being sympathetic to the LTTE, and he was imprisoned, tortured and had his livelihood taken away. 

Arun’s Journey

Arun fled first to Malaysia and then Indonesia, where he made arrangements to make the difficult journey to Australia by boat. After 3 perilous days at sea, he and his fellow refugees reached Christmas Island, where they thought they had found safety. However,  Australian forces forcibly transferred Arun and others to Manus Island.



For the last six years Arun has lived in hell on earth: Manus. Men are drugged when they complain, and they are at constant threat of attack from locals and guards. Despite these conditions, Arun has used his considerable computer skills to assist his fellow refugees with badly needed phone repairs, and he has become a phenomenal painter, even donating one of his large paintings of Jesus and Mary to a church in Manus.

A New Start

We need to get Arun to a new country where he can be free and safe and can begin a new life. We want to bring him to Canada under the government’s Private Sponsorship of Refugees program.

Before we can submit an application, we need to confirm to the Canadian government that we have funds to support Arun’s first 12 months of life in Canada (CAD$17,000 = AUD$18,900).

Your donation will go 100% toward Arun’s living expenses for the first year, including housing, food, startup costs, furniture and clothing.

Who Are We?

We are part of a group of committed volunteers in both Canada and Australia who are ready and excited to help Arun start a new life, including Gowry Karrapiah, Laura Beth Bugg, and Stephen Watt.

As soon as this money is in the bank (in a secure bank account managed by Community Matters Toronto, who will oversee the application, we can submit the paperwork and start the formal process of getting Arun out of detention and out of danger.

We Need Your Help

If you can help, please click on the “Donate” button. As your donations come in, the money will be transferred to the private bank account of Laura Bugg with the Royal Bank of Canada. When the funds have been fully collected they will be transferred to Community Matters Toronto (http://communitymatterstoronto.org/ ), a registered Canadian charity, who will hold the money in a dedicated trust fund with Alterna Savings Bank. 

When Arun arrives, the money will be disbursed under guidelines laid out by the Canadian government. Start-up funds are given upon arrival in Canada and the living expenses are distributed to him on a monthly basis.

Every dollar brings us one step toward bringing this kind-hearted and talented young Tamil man a new start in a country he is looking forward to calling his home. Please help us bring Arun here today.

Thank you for your support. And help spread the word by sharing this post!

Fundraising team: Team Arun (2)

Laura Bugg
Organizer
Raised $1,538 from 14 donations
Toronto, ON
Gowri Karuppiah
Team member
Raised $220 from 5 donations

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