A Message from our ED
We are forever grateful for the choice you’ve made to support the work of our team and partners in the field to help refugees survive and recover from forced displacement.
As we walk with refugees, our team sees and hears many stories of brokenness and despair. But we also have shared in the joy of families being reunited, of finding place, of securing a good education or being welcomed into a home. We’ve seen the effects of good trauma counseling and the healthy way community fosters belonging. There is nothing quite like the glorious joy of witnessing recovery from brokenness.
Recovery work takes time and it is far from easy. At the time of writing this note, the UNHCR has just released news that the global total of the forcibly displaced now exceeds 100 million. This staggering figure is a sharp increase from the 82.4 million reported at the end of 2020. With more people becoming displaced, and fewer being able to return, resettle or pursue local integration, an increasing number find themselves in protracted displacement situations.
But we are encouraged by the God who sees, knows and cares and who has allowed us to partner with him in this work. In this, our third full year of operation at IAFR Canada, we continued to press on, together with the church, to walk with refugees as they themselves seek durable solutions to the challenges of forced displacement, and to support their strategies for recovery amid protracted displacement situations.
This is why your partnership is so vital, not just to the organization, but to the lives of those we work to serve. You play a critical role in helping refugees survive and recover.
So, on behalf of IAFR Canada, I thank you. We all thank you. And we cannot wait for you to hear our team’s stories from the field so that you can celebrate with us the results of your faithful choice to invest in rebuilding, repairing and restoring the lives of refugees.
Laura Dobrowloski
As we walk with refugees, our team sees and hears many stories of brokenness and despair. But we also have shared in the joy of families being reunited, of finding place, of securing a good education or being welcomed into a home. We’ve seen the effects of good trauma counseling and the healthy way community fosters belonging. There is nothing quite like the glorious joy of witnessing recovery from brokenness.
Recovery work takes time and it is far from easy. At the time of writing this note, the UNHCR has just released news that the global total of the forcibly displaced now exceeds 100 million. This staggering figure is a sharp increase from the 82.4 million reported at the end of 2020. With more people becoming displaced, and fewer being able to return, resettle or pursue local integration, an increasing number find themselves in protracted displacement situations.
But we are encouraged by the God who sees, knows and cares and who has allowed us to partner with him in this work. In this, our third full year of operation at IAFR Canada, we continued to press on, together with the church, to walk with refugees as they themselves seek durable solutions to the challenges of forced displacement, and to support their strategies for recovery amid protracted displacement situations.
This is why your partnership is so vital, not just to the organization, but to the lives of those we work to serve. You play a critical role in helping refugees survive and recover.
So, on behalf of IAFR Canada, I thank you. We all thank you. And we cannot wait for you to hear our team’s stories from the field so that you can celebrate with us the results of your faithful choice to invest in rebuilding, repairing and restoring the lives of refugees.
Laura Dobrowloski
IAFR Canada has team members serving in Winnipeg, Kitchener, Hamilton, Bolton and Toronto.
Our global work through partnerships and personnel includes Uganda, Malawi, Lebanon, Greece and Iraq.
Today we're taking you to Lebanon and then to Hamilton.
Our global work through partnerships and personnel includes Uganda, Malawi, Lebanon, Greece and Iraq.
Today we're taking you to Lebanon and then to Hamilton.
LEBANON: Beirut Nazarene Church
Even in the midst of the pandemic and the debilitating consequences of the failing economy in Lebanon, our partners at Beirut Nazarene Church (BNC) valiantly forged ahead, bringing light in dark places, transforming their community by working collaboratively with twelve other evangelical churches. As a team member who visited Beirut recently noted,
"The church is present everywhere in the neighbourhood with grace and dignity."
CANADA: Meadowlands Fellowship CRC
Sharon Davis Payton had already been a supporter and volunteer of Open Homes Hamilton, a program of IAFR Canada, for several years. She also helped to connect her church, Meadowlands Fellowship Christian Reformed Church, to opportunities to serve refugees with Open Homes. When she heard that an Open Homes Guest, whose daughter lives with cerebral palsy, needed his Permanent Residency expedited, Sharon and others at Meadowlands leapt into action.
Sharon Davis Payton had already been a supporter and volunteer of Open Homes Hamilton, a program of IAFR Canada, for several years. She also helped to connect her church, Meadowlands Fellowship Christian Reformed Church, to opportunities to serve refugees with Open Homes. When she heard that an Open Homes Guest, whose daughter lives with cerebral palsy, needed his Permanent Residency expedited, Sharon and others at Meadowlands leapt into action.
In the depths of pandemic restrictions, Mahmoud* bravely shared a video appeal for the church. He shared about the challenges of caring for his daughter, Rayya* and her complex needs alone, while learning English and adapting to Canada. He shared about her obvious longing to be reunited with her mother after more than 2 years apart.
Because she is non-verbal, Rayya has been receiving treatment at Ron Joyce Children’s Hospital and training on a special computer that allows her to communicate simply by pointing with her eyes. This treatment and others was hat brought Mahmoud and Rayya to Canada on a medical visa.
“Yemen is now a country in which the basics of a decent human life have stopped since the beginning of the war in 2015,” said Mahmoud. He added, “We were not welcomed by the rich neighbouring countries, and the best option was [to go to] any safe and stable country that would welcome those who had lost their first home. Canada was the best option.”
Their refugee claim was accepted–but their journey wasn’t over. Their Permanent Residency application had to be approved, and that could take years. Meanwhile, Mahmoud’s wife Aisha sent him videos of bombs falling near their home. They needed to get out.
When the congregation at Meadowlands CRC heard of the need, they saw an opportunity for advocacy. An Open Homes Companion with experience in advocacy, Cindy Stover, trained interested church members in writing effective advocacy letters. With the help of a supportive staff member in the office of a local Member of Parliament, their messages were able to reach the Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship. Soon, they heard that the Permanent Residency application had been approved!
Then came the next hurdle: the family had to get into the neighbouring country of Oman to receive their Canadian visas for travel, since there was no functioning Canadian embassy in Yemen. Again, the church and other Hamilton churches helped raise money for the family's transportation costs.
After a harrowing journey in a taxi across the desert, the family arrived in Oman, buoyed by the prayers of friends, family, and churches all over the world.
Because she is non-verbal, Rayya has been receiving treatment at Ron Joyce Children’s Hospital and training on a special computer that allows her to communicate simply by pointing with her eyes. This treatment and others was hat brought Mahmoud and Rayya to Canada on a medical visa.
“Yemen is now a country in which the basics of a decent human life have stopped since the beginning of the war in 2015,” said Mahmoud. He added, “We were not welcomed by the rich neighbouring countries, and the best option was [to go to] any safe and stable country that would welcome those who had lost their first home. Canada was the best option.”
Their refugee claim was accepted–but their journey wasn’t over. Their Permanent Residency application had to be approved, and that could take years. Meanwhile, Mahmoud’s wife Aisha sent him videos of bombs falling near their home. They needed to get out.
When the congregation at Meadowlands CRC heard of the need, they saw an opportunity for advocacy. An Open Homes Companion with experience in advocacy, Cindy Stover, trained interested church members in writing effective advocacy letters. With the help of a supportive staff member in the office of a local Member of Parliament, their messages were able to reach the Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship. Soon, they heard that the Permanent Residency application had been approved!
Then came the next hurdle: the family had to get into the neighbouring country of Oman to receive their Canadian visas for travel, since there was no functioning Canadian embassy in Yemen. Again, the church and other Hamilton churches helped raise money for the family's transportation costs.
After a harrowing journey in a taxi across the desert, the family arrived in Oman, buoyed by the prayers of friends, family, and churches all over the world.
Rayya's mother in the flowered hijab, Rayya's brother and sister holding her
hands, at a recent Open Homes picnic.
Finally, “on Jan. 18, 2022, exactly one year since we started our advocacy, the family was reunited,” says Sharon. “God provided family unity and connectedness through our church’s advocacy for the vulnerable even in a time of pandemic isolation.”
“Reuniting with my family was the happiest moment of our lives,” said Mahmoud. “Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who stood by us.”
I'm All In!
Being involved as a Companion has helped me see beyond my Western worldview on a whole wide range of topics, allowed me to try all kinds of awesome new foods, and opened my eyes to see how poorly our system and structures work for those who are vulnerable. It's so important to not only connect newcomers to housing, but also to offer community. I've seen the ways that the Open Homes Hamilton approach helps decrease the stress and confusion of moving to a new country, and that is so important and often overlooked. I absolutely love being able to become genuine friends with and learn so much from those that I get to be companions with. After being part of the Open Homes community for a while, I was glad to be able to support it as a monthly donor. I’m all in! |
David Schuurman, Monthly Donor and Companion with Open Homes Hamilton/IAFR Canada
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You can help people survive and recover
from forced displacement
in the tumultuous days, months and years ahead
by becoming a Friend of Refugees today.
Financial Report
Statements, revenue and expenses are for fiscal year 2021:
Jan 1, 2021- Dec 31, 2021
Financial report audited by James Herzog, CPA, CA, LPA
For a more detailed statement, please email us.
Jan 1, 2021- Dec 31, 2021
Financial report audited by James Herzog, CPA, CA, LPA
For a more detailed statement, please email us.
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