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His is the face of Friendly Manitoba

Cares for strangers stranded at the airport

By: Lindor Reynolds

Posted: 06/7/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Camera shyness is the only thing preventing Tekle Zerai from becoming the face of Friendly Manitoba.

"I am just a person like all others," Zerai says, declining to have his picture taken by a Free Press photographer. "Anybody would have done the same thing I did."

I'll let you decide about that.

On May 22, three Ugandan educators arrived at Richardson International Airport for a three-week stay. It was midnight, they'd been travelling for almost 34 hours, and they were tired and hungry. There was a mix-up, and their local hosts weren't there to meet them.

"We were stranded. We didn't have money. He did something wonderful," says school headmistress Jane Kansiime.

"To get to the extent of spending your own money, calling people for you..." She trails off. "He is very special."

Kansiime and her teachers were invited to Winnipeg by the Seven Oaks School Division and the Mondetta Charity Foundation. Both support Kamwokya Primary School, her impoverished Kampala school.

Zerai, who emigrated here from Eritrea in 1985, is a part-time airport shuttle driver. He was working when Kansiime and teachers Aida Kainza and Samuel Kirya got off the plane.

"It was quite late," he says. "They were looking around. I just asked them if they needed any help because they seemed lost."

He did more than that.

Zerai stayed with the trio through the night, encouraging them to get some sleep on the airport benches. He says he didn't want to wake up their Canadian contacts because it was so late. Finally, around 7 a.m., Zerai drove the Ugandans to McDonald's for breakfast.

"It wasn't much," he says, "but they were hungry."

Kansiime admits she first thought Zerai was just doing his job.

"I thought he worked for the airport," she laughs. "We were not surprised by his kindness at first."

While the others had breakfast, Zerai pulled out his cellphone and made contact with the trio's Canadian counterparts. He was willing to drive them to their hosts, but that wasn't necessary.

The three have had a wonderful stay in Winnipeg.

At a dinner party for the Ugandans last weekend, Zerai was given a hero's welcome. The visitors hugged and kissed him. The Canadians shook his hand. He was given a seat at the head of the table.

Zerai will be prominently featured in the array of photos the teachers took to commemorate their Canadian visit.

Kish Modha, head of the Mondetta Charitable Foundation, says he was impressed by Zerai's actions.

"It's so thoughtful that he looked after our visitors," says Modha, who emigrated to Canada from Uganda. "I'm just speechless. At that time of night, especially, you've been working... to spend another seven hours taking care of strangers is wonderful."

Zerai is nonplussed by the high praise.

"Anyone would have done the same," he claims.

I ask him if he'd received the same sort of warm welcome when he came to Canada. He politely avoids answering the question directly.

"It is just in my nature to do things like that," he says. "Canada has been good to me."

And now he's been very good to us.

The story of the support the school receives from the Seven Oaks school division and Mondetta is already well-known in Uganda. But the story of Mr. Friendly Manitoban will now be told and retold.

When the Ugandans leave this week, they'll take his kindness home.

How many of us can honestly say we'd spend several hours caring for a group of strangers? Do you really think Tekle Zerai is a person like all others? I don't, and I wonder if his experience as a stranger in a strange land opened his eyes to the power of a welcoming hand.

He's opened mine.

lindor.reynolds@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 7, 2012 A2

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About Lindor Reynolds

Lindor Reynolds began work at the Free Press as a 17-year-old proofreader. She was fired three weeks later.

Many years later, armed with a university education, she was hired as a columnist. During 16 years on the job she has managed to avoid being sacked again.

Lindor has received considerable recognition for her writing. Her awards include the Will Rogers Humanitarian Award, the National Society of Newspaper Columnists’ general interest award and the North American Travel Journalists Association award.

She has earned three nominations for the Michener Award and has been awarded a Distinguished Alumni commendation from the University of Winnipeg. Lindor was also named a YWCA Woman of Distinction.

She is married with four daughters.

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