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A long route from Congo to Canada, but family now has home

By: Carol Sanders

Posted: 12/7/2012 2:33 PM | Comments: 0

The Mulimbwa family, from left: Sylvie, Francine, Odette, Bahati (father), Glodi, Esperance, Safari (mother), Nico, Alliance and Rachel. (WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

Nearly a decade after fleeing the violence in Congo, the Mulimbwa family finally has a place to call home.

On Tuesday, the family of nine arrived in Winnipeg on freezing night to a warm welcome at the airport after waiting for years as refugees in limbo in Kampala, Uganda. The family was sponsored in 2006 by the First Presbyterian Church through Hospital House Refugee Ministry. Church member Martin Mulimbwa arrived in 2000 as a government-sponsored refugee then sponsored his mom and three brothers to come to Canada.

The Winnipeg brothers had been trying for years to bring their uncle Bahati, who raised them when their father was killed in Congo, to Canada with his wife Esperance and seven kids. On Tuesday, it happened. The four oldest of the children, who range in age from 25 to 12, were a well-known gospel hip-hip group called Bahatizz that performed in churches around Uganda.

They’ve already got gigs here lined up this Sunday. Just days ago, the family was welcomed to Winnipeg by a huge crowd of relatives they hadn’t seen in years and strangers from the church who will no doubt soon become friends. They were bundled up in warm coats and led out into the night to start their new life in their new home.

Read more about them in the Weekend Edition Saturday.

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