It was an evening like any other. The young man, still a teenager, went to a nearby village to visit a friend. Then everything in his world changed. Word came that soldiers entered his village, raped the young women, killed the older people and took livestock and money.
Thinking they could be next, Christopher and the villagers immediately fled and scattered into the bush. After some time without food, water or contact with others, he decided to try to return to his own village.
The sight, sounds and stench that greeted him will be forever engraved in his memory.
With fires still smouldering, he and an uncle, who had also returned, buried his parents and siblings. With heavy heart, he returned to the neighbouring village.
In his grief, complaints about the government’s lack of action towards the soldiers only brought him threats of disappearance and death. He had to leave while he had time.
Heading for the border, he was arrested by rebel soldiers. The intervention of four elderly women travelers saved him. From then on, he traveled in disguise. Upon reaching the refugee camp in the bordering country, he came upon a family who knew of a family in Canada with his same name, although not related. Contact was made, agreement secured to try to get a refugee sponsorship for resettlement in Canada. However, political upheaval erupted in the country of refuge and so he was, once again, on the move… to another country; to another refugee camp, before anything could be done.
Unlike its name, a refugee camp is often not a place of ‘refuge’. Rebels infiltrate to kidnap and recruit. Local authorities control numbers by elimination. Women and children are at risk, often from those who are charged with protecting them.
Rations are meager or missing. Mobility is restricted. Fraud is rampant, as desperate people are easy targets.
It was a long, perilous journey, but seven years after that fateful night that forever changed his life, he arrived in Canada, as a Permanent Resident, sponsored through the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program, with The Salvation Army as the Sponsorship Agreement Holder. Soon after arrival, he became a contributing member of our society, but more importantly, he now has a future.
