After successfully assisting a Syrian refugee family settle in Canada in 2019, a group of Langham-area residents are now looking to help a family fleeing from repression in Afghanistan.
The Langham Community Refugee Sponsorship Committee (LCRSC) is hoping to raise $25,000 by March to sponsor a family from Afghanistan.
The Afghan family consists of a husband and wife, their four young children, and the husband’s father. They are currently in hiding somewhere in Pakistan because the two men in the family are under death threats from the extremist Taliban government of Afghanistan.
The LCRSC is partnering with the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), a charitable humanitarian organization to help the family escape from Pakistan and travel to Canada.
Ed Bueckert of Langham, a member of the LCRSC, said the MCC is a recognized ‘sponsoring agent’.
“As a sponsoring agency, the MCC has experience at getting people out of these countries,” said Bueckert. “They vet the people to ensure they are legitimate refugees, and not potential terrorists. They check the facts.”
The LCRSC, as a private sponsor of the refugee family, is responsible for supporting the family for a year after they arrive in Canada. During that year, they assist them in finding housing, employment, language translation support, and enrolling in health, social and education programs.
The LCRSC is looking to raise $25,000 by March in order to have its sponsorship included in the MCC’s overall refugee sponsorship efforts this year.
“The MCC is only allowed so many sponsorships annually,” said Bueckert. “They find out that number in March, and they get far more requests for sponsorship than they are allowed to fill. We want to get our ducks in a row before March, because the MCC believes this family would be at the top of the priority list because of the situation they’re in.”
The LCRSC will continue to fundraise over the coming year. However, the refugee family has the advantage of already having relatives in Saskatoon who can provide housing and employment.
Bueckert said he learned of the plight of the Afghan family by chance. A man originally from Afghanistan who emigrated to Canada several years ago after pursuing higher education in Norway, and who is now working at a trade in Saskatoon, was doing some work for Bueckert.
“In talking with him I learned their story,” said Bueckert. “When he heard that we had sponsored refugees before, he asked whether we would assist his brother and his family, and his father.”
The LCRSC members took up the case of this Afghan family.
“It’s important that we do something to help people who are going through experiences that we could never imagine,” said LCRSC member Karen Archibald. “Most people in Saskatchewan are only one or two generations removed from being immigrants themselves. People moved here to build a better life, and that’s what we want to help these people do as well.”
She noted the welcome that Saskatchewan is laying out for Ukrainian refugee families displaced by the current war with Russia illustrates the generosity of the province.
Archibald said her experiences backpacking through Asia in the 1970s, and the warm welcome she received at the homes of people who lived in poverty, made a deep impression on her.
“I feel like by doing this, I’m repaying, in a way, the kindness that people showed me when I was younger,” she said. “And the response from the community here for the committee’s efforts have been very positive. People want to help, and donations are coming in.”
Bueckert, who’s been involved in refugee assistance efforts since the late 1970s and early 1980s, said the LCRSC is made up of a cross-section of people in the community.
“We have people from the Catholic, United, Mennonite, Lutheran churches, and others who are not involved in any church,” he said. “They’re just interested in helping people in distress.”
Donations to assist the LCRSC’s fundraising efforts are eligible for charitable tax deductions. Receipts will be issued by the LCRSC for donations sent by e-transfer to treasurerlmf@sasktel.net. or by mailing a cheque made out to Langham Mennonite Fellowship,Box 285, Langham, SK S0K 2L0.
The LCRSC’s social media page provides updates on fundraising efforts and other information.