We have reached our goal in 12 days! Many thanks to all for your generous hearts!
Additional funds collected will continue to be rerouted to Andrew’s bank account.
Goal
$1000 CAD / $750 USD
Total Donations as of November 30
$1000 CAD / $750 USD
21 Donors
GoFundMe
Greetings, brothers, sisters, and siblings in Christ,
Orthodoxy in Dialogue has conducted a successful Nativity Fast appeal every year since 2017. In the past, we’ve set a goal of several thousands of dollars, and distributed the funds on Christmas Eve to the homeless on the frigid streets of downtown Toronto. Your generosity and kindness have been phenomenal over the years.
This year, we’re setting our sights on Africa, with a modest goal of $750 USD / $1000 CAD.
We’ve known Andrew for a number of years. He’s a 34-year old gay Catholic man from Uganda. In July 2019, he fled homophobic violence in his home country and landed in the Kakuma Refugee Camp, located in northwestern Kenya and administered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Much of the camp is made up of row upon row of corrugated iron shelters with earthen floors. Residents are often obliged to share their homes with rainwaters and scorpions. During the dry season, the dust makes the air virtually unbreathable.
LGBTQ refugees form a small minority of Kakuma’s population. The majority of individuals and families come from war-torn regions of Africa. The LGBTQ community keeps to itself to avoid outbursts of homophobic violence within the camp.
Andrew has shown remarkable resilience, fortitude, and grace under conditions that often border on hellish during his years in Kakuma. When not attending ICT classes in a program sponsored by Oxford University, he’s often found helping his classmates with their assignments or building shelters for LGBTQ newcomers. When he receives a little money for himself through the kindness of strangers from time to time, he never fails to spend some of it on a nice meal for his housemates, or lunch and candy and trinkets for the young children of lesbian mothers in the neighbourhood, or other needs of community members as he sees them around himself.
Now Andrew’s time has come. He has been offered an opportunity to emigrate to South Africa, where a friend in Johannesburg will shelter and feed him and help him find gainful employment. South Africa is known for the best LGBTQ rights and protections of any African nation. As soon as he can, he plans to begin working toward a university degree in sustainability studies in order to devote his life to the people of Africa so dear to his heart.
This is where we come in. The funds we collect will cover Andrew’s bus fare for the arduous 56-hour, 3800km/2400mi trek through multiple countries from Nairobi to Johannesburg, his food and drink along the way, his entry visa for South Africa, and a couple hundred dollars left over so he doesn’t arrive penniless at his friend’s home.
We’ve already helped Andrew open a bank account at ABSA, South Africa’s most prominent bank, with branches all over the continent. Every cent we collect will be transferred to his bank account and sit untouched until there’s enough for him to go. His friend in Johannesburg is ready to receive him at a moment’s notice. Nothing is holding him in Kenya. As soon as we collect enough money for his trip, he’s on his way to his new life.
Each of your offerings to this appeal, whether great or small, will be received with profound gratitude and with prayers for all who give. We’ll publish an update once Andrew gets settled in Johannesburg.
Please remember to pray for Andrew, for the success of this campaign, and for everyone who gives from a generous and loving heart.
May our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ bless each of you with a spiritually fruitful Nativity Fast as we make our way to worship Him as a newborn Child.
ORTHODOXY IN DIALOGUE 