OMRA
Celebrates its Five-Year Anniversary with Successful Fundraising
Lunch
Five years have past since we received our first
family into an OMRA home. Since then, there have been so many
wonderful families and events for which to be thankful. To date,
OMRA has provided housing to ten families. These families have
enjoyed the stability of good neighbourhoods, excellent schools,
and affordable rents.
We marked our celebration on May 28 with a soup luncheon at Ottawa
Mennonite Church following the Sunday service. Everyone enjoyed
the great hot and cold soups and much laughter and good conversation
filled the hall. Over 100 people attended including many from
OMC and some of our tenants. Deb Simpson from MCC Ontario Refugee
Concerns enjoyed the warmth and fun of the luncheon having spent
the weekend at OMC providing us with insights into new immigration
policy and our changing role as sponsors. Janice Peron and her
husband, Pierre, who have been instrumental in making Emmanuel
United a valuable part of our Loblaws/Loeb food card fund raiser
also attended. Our guest speaker was one of our current tenants,
John, and he was inspiring as he told us of his life (see below).
Guests were very generous and OMRA made over $1500. We are most
grateful as the money helps us to continue to provide generous
subsidies to our families as they face increase costs of heat,
hydro, food etc. Perhaps this lunch will become an annual spring
event.
From
Ochang John Luka: A letter of thanks and acknowledgement
On behalf of my family, I am grateful to have this opportunity
to thank all OMRA members, especially Maria, Wilfred and his wife
Linda, with their moral and social support to me and my family.
I also extend my sincere thanks to all Christian members of Ottawa
Mennonite Church with their kind efforts in establishing a Refugee
Assistance Program for the purpose of sponsoring and helping refugees
coming to Canada. Because of the good will of you and the government
of Canada my family was provided with an opportunity for permanent
residence in Canada in November 2004.
A refugee's life is not an easy one. Since I was born I have not
known the meaning of happiness. I am originally a Sudanese. I
fled my country of origin because of religious persecution. I
was a refugee in Ethiopia for six years with thousands of Sudanese
lost boys. I went with other Sudanese refugees to southern Sudan
following the fall of the Mengistu regime in 1991 in Ethiopia.
During the exodus from Ethiopia to southern Sudan many people
were killed by gunmen and wild animals. Many others died of hunger
and thirst. However, on reaching southern Sudan we were assisted
by the Red Cross and transported to the Kenyan-Sudanese border
to a place known now as Kakuma refugee camp. I stayed in Kakuma
working with UNHCR, IRC and Red Cross as a physiotherapy assistant
for eleven years.
However, here my family feels happy with the hope of achieving
future dreams. The success of many refugees is a result of concerted
effort and especially that of your individual contribution. It
is my belief that your assistance and love will be an asset in
your church and provide peace in the world.
With these few remarks thank you once more for giving me this
opportunity to say a few words.
An
Update on OMRA's Families ...
The Latest New Addition
There are many joys and wonderful experiences working with a refugee
family in their first year in Canada, such as building snowmen
and getting ready for Hallowe'en, but nothing can be as thrilling
as the birth of a new baby. Christian, who was supposed to be
a girl named Maria (babies can fool ultrasounds!), was born on
May 22, 2006. He weighed over 3 kg and his little head was covered
with the most beautiful, thick black hair. He is so sweet and
continues to be a bouncing baby with the most winning toothless
smiles ever. Now at five-and-a-half months, he weighs in at over
9 kg: Canada and mother's milk certainly agree with him. The other
little children in the family are so proud of him. The love between
them all is wonderful thing to be part of.
Christian's siblings are thriving at school and Mireille Rigby
continues to enjoy tutoring them. They particularly love the closing
song. Stephanie Kruziak, an Algonquin TESL student, goes once
a week to help their mom, Jackie, with her English. Jackie is
now attending LINC classes with Christian. Faustin (dad) is a
nurse by profession. He is currently attending Algonquin College
and is doing very well. It is very frustrating for him, however,
that because of the war in the Congo he cannot get a transcript
of his marks from his previous schooling, nor the documentation
from Doctors Without Borders to prove that he has worked for them.
He has sent a friend to Rwanda where the office allegedly moved,
but his friend was not allowed but into Congo. Please pray for
him.
A Passion for "the Beautiful Game"
The four lads in one of our houses love playing soccer. Of course,
in Africa they played it all year round. In Canada they play with
Gloucester Dragons Soccer Club - but only in summer. For the last
two years, the OMC Refugee Committee has sponsored the boys' participation.
Charles, age 7, was one of the best players on his team, and when
he missed a game, he was sure to be phoned and encouraged to come
next time. In winter, the boys watch soccer on television or play
table soccer: anything to keep soccer alive!
An
Update on OMRA's Properties and Fundraising ...
OMRA … Upgraded
A major element of OMRA's mandate is to provide safe, clean, affordable,
transitional housing for refugees coming to settle in Ottawa.
Happily, OMRA found itself in a position to do some major upgrades
to all three of our properties, thus ensuring our units are not
simply adequate shelters, but homes where people can live comfortably.
Our first property had new carpet installed throughout the house,
and a new bathtub and ceramic tile in the main bathroom. Our second
property received new vinyl tile and baseboards in the entrance
and eating areas, and new carpet through the rest of the house.
This property also required a new hot water tank to be installed
this fall as the old one burst. Our third property needed less
extensive repairs-simply some bathroom maintenance -as its flooring
was upgraded in 2005, prior to our current tenants' arrival.
A Huge Thank You!
OMRA wants to take a moment to acknowledge the tremendous support
of our friends at Glebe-St. James United Church and Emmanuel United
Church.
It is in large part due to their generous contributions-above
and beyond their grocery card fundraising activities- that has
allowed OMRA to make such substantial improvements to our properties
this year.
Both the OMRA board and the families residing in our houses are
most grateful.
A New Method of Support for OMRA's Families
We want to send out another huge thank you to Carol Dixon of the
Society of Friends for helping to arrange a new support mechanism
for the families living in OMRA's properties. Working with Allied
Reclamation of Toronto, Carol has arranged for the donation and
delivery of food products damaged in transit to retail stores.
As refugee family budgets are often extremely tight, money for
necessities such as food is sometimes not readily available, making
this program a most practical gift.
A
Canadian Hallowe'en
Hallowe'en was a new and exciting event in one of our homes. The
children were presented with a variety of costumes from Patty
Woodyard's costume box and they had great fun trying on all the
wigs, glasses, clown noses etc. A monster outfit with Viking horns
was rejected as "too scary". We finally ended up with
one very delighted and delightful princess, three clowns and one
very funny pumpkin. The children went to a Halloween party, but
hope to go trick-or-treating with Mireille Rigby next year.
OMRA:
Who We Are and How You Can Help
OMRA Shelter Alternatives Corporation works with the Refugee Assistance
Program of Ottawa Mennonite Church and other refugee sponsorship
groups to provide safe, clean, affordable, transitional housing
for refugees coming to settle in Ottawa. Priority is given to
women at risk.
OMRA is run entirely on a volunteer basis and is always looking
for groups or individuals willing to donate their time, money
or expertise to help us in our efforts.
Much of our fundraising at this time is done through a grocery
card program whereby Loblaws or Loeb gift cards can be purchased
with a percentage of the face value going to fund OMRA's projects.
If you or your organization would be interested in pursuing this,
please let us know.
OMRA would also love to hear from you with input or suggestions.
Tell us about what you or your group is doing in the area of refugee
assistance and housing or how you can help.
Contact Us:
General Inquiries:
Ruth Wilson - 613-260-8323 - inquiries@omrashelter.com
Fundraising:
Maria Rigby - 613-567-7389 - fundraising@omrashelter.com
Project Information:
Linda Redekop - 613-731-9722 - projectinfo@omrashelter.com
A
Merry Christmas and Most Joyous Advent and Holiday Season to all
from OMRA.
