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Winnipeg, Man.
MCC seeks sponsorships for Sierra Leone families


Peter Koroma desperately wants to help his family. The Winnipeg man’s family has been traumatized by the brutal civil war that has raged in Sierra Leone since 1991. His older sister Digba Koroma, his late brother’s wife Martha Koroma, and her five children, now struggle to survive from day-to-day as refugees in neighbouring Guinea. And Peter Koroma would love to bring them to Canada.

Peter Koroma MCC news photo by Bruce Hildebrand

With the help of Mennonite church groups, Koroma, and other Canadians from Sierra Leone, may soon be able to do that. The Canadian government has recently launched a special program to expedite the private sponsorship of 3,000 refugees from Sierra Leone who have family living in Canada.

The Sierra Leone community in Canada has turned to Mennonite Central Committee for help in finding private sponsors. MCC in turn has appealed to Mennonite church groups.

MCC is hoping to find sponsorships for 15 family units in both Ontario and Manitoba, over 10 families in Alberta, and five family groups in B.C.

“We’re asking for a full sponsorship commitment,” said Ed Wiebe, refugee coordinator for MCC Manitoba. “Others can help by offering financial support to the Sierra Leone community or by acting in partnerships with other local churches to provide a full sponsorship commitment.”

Tim Wichert, refugee program coordinator for MCC Canada, as well as MCC Ontario, said the financial requirement will range from $100 to $1,500 a month, for a maximum of one year. The amount of financial support will depend on how much support the refugees’ families in Canada can provide. The families will also help orient their relatives to life in Canada. In most cases, the refugees will settle near their families in large, urban areas.

Nathaniel Bimba, of MCC Alberta, said most of the refugees are educated and speak English. Given the chance, many will be able to start work soon after arriving in Canada, he said.

Wiebe said once sponsors are in place, it will take four to six months for the refugees to arrive in Canada.

“I’m hoping by spring time they should be here,” said Koroma. Koroma, who works for the provincial Family Services department in Winnipeg, last saw his family during a 1988 visit back to Sierra Leone.

Since then, his home village has been destroyed in the war, his family home burned to the ground, and his family forced to flee. Koroma’s younger brother (Martha’s husband) was killed in the war. Other family members are missing. Digba and Martha and her children, have been staying as refugees in Guinea for almost five years, where there’s growing violence against refugees. Koroma rents a home for them because the refugee camp is too dangerous for the women. They can’t leave their home alone, for fear of police harassment.

Koroma said he is determined to save some of his loved ones. He wants to send the five children to school “and start a new generation of our family”, adding “That’s why I’m very devoted to these refugee matters, because I think it’s the only way I can help.”

 – Carol Thiessen, for MCC Canada

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Last modified March 7, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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