One day, a few years back, a lady came into our Church and wanted to speak to our Pastor. Her request was 'Would your Church consider sponsering my sister and her family to come to Canada to live, and preferably in this city'? That request was brought to Church council and was discussed and voted through.

It was then brought to the attention of one of our women's group of which their were 5 or 6 leaders at the time and I was one of those leaders. We thought this was a great idea and started fund raising for this lady and her children from Africa. I delivered turkeys to various homes for roasting which were donated by one of the couples from our Church. Everything else as well was donated and we had our first fowl supper fund raiser. It was well received and we were well on the way for this family's support. Several fund raisers were held after that through concerts,suppers,garage sales,donations and the generosity of many other individuals who supported this cause.

Provincial & Federal Government officials had to be contacted here and then in Africa. To get these documents passed seemed to take forever, and I am certain that it seemed this way for the family who were living as refugees and so wanted to be in this beautiful and wonderful country of Canada.

This Mother and her children lived in the Congo with her husband . One day, a few years ago in the journey of this family, her husband took three of their children to school. An uprising occured in which men, women, and children fled for their lives. Many of them were killed.This young Mother and the rest of her children were eventually taken to the Sudan and lived as refugees. She has never found out what happened to her husband and the children that were with him.

After years of awaiting news from Canada, through governmental bureaucracy and red tape, many meetings, much prayer, and several more happenings in the life of this family, they arrived in Canada, at the beginning of this month. We had a special service in our Church for them. They spoke and sang in Swahili & English. They showed true Joy that I will never forget. They kneeled and thanked God and us in a way I will also never forget. They were thankful for no more ammunition flying over their heads...they were thankful for a bed to sleep on. This mother said that she had so much to be thankful for, and so much to learn in this wonderful country of Canada. As my eyes welled up with tears, and as I listened to this family speak, I thought to myself....it is we who have so much to be thankful for....it is we who have so much to learn... thinking of just how genuine and gracious this family was after having gone through so much in their young lives.

Our Church body became their 'friend'...their 'rafiki' the  swahili pronounciation being (rah fee'kee ) and they became our 'rafiki' which is now my screen name with eGenerations!