Sponsorship effort sets goal to bring together separated brothers

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This article was published 17/08/2021 (1855 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg church is looking for help to sponsor a refugee family in Uganda — and reunite two brothers in the process.

First Lutheran Church, located on Victor Street in the West End, has launched a fundraising campaign to bring the younger brother of church member David Mazambi — along with his brother’s wife, three children and a nephew — to Winnipeg.

Mazambi, originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been in Canada since 2002 after fleeing that country as a refugee for speaking out against the government.

He and his wife, Tania Banze, and their three children are valued members of the congregation, Tamsin Collings, president of the church’s council, said.

“They are real pillars of our community,” Collings said, noting Mazambi has also served on the church council and that the couple help make people feel welcome through acts of hospitality.

“Whenever anything needs to be done in the church,” they step up, she said.

Now the church wants to step up for them by helping the Mazambi family. “It’s a way to pay it back,” Collings said.

Mazambi said it would be wonderful to be reunited with his brother.

“They have been in a refugee camp in Uganda for six years,” he said, noting his brother also was critical of the government and is unable to return to his home country because of the risk to his life.

The opportunity to bring the family to Canada came upon the church suddenly when Canadian Lutheran World Relief, which has a refugee sponsorship agreement with the Canadian government, indicated it had an unexpected opening in its quota for refugees for 2021.

“This was a really lucky thing for us and for David and Tania,” Collings said, noting the openings came up when another church had to withdraw its request to sponsor refugees.

The window for getting David’s brother and his family to Canada is small. First Lutheran Church needs to raise $25,000 by the end of the year to prove to the government it can financially support the family for a year when they arrive.

Without that support, the application cannot go forward.

“CLWR told us they have a sponsorship space available for a family if we can provide the funds quickly to them,” Robert Granke, a member of the committee helping to bring the family to Canada, said. “It will be huge for the family if we can do this.”

The willingness of the congregation to help is overwhelming, Mazambi said.

“I’m so grateful,” he said. “Without this help from the church, it would be super-difficult for me and my family to help my brother. Without them, it would be impossible.”

Helping in this way is simply the right thing to do, Collings said.

“We are doing it because we can and we should,” she said. “As Christians, we are called by Jesus to help others, to show God’s love in practical ways.”

Sponsoring refugees is also “in the DNA” for Lutherans, Granke said, noting Canadian Lutheran World Relief has been involved in refugee sponsorship since after the Second World War, when it helped people come to Canada from war-torn Europe.

It’s also consistent with how the church responds to needs in Winnipeg, he said, noting the church operates two food banks that support more than 100 families.

Raising the funds during a pandemic is a challenge, Collings said, but she is confident people will respond.

“I believe there are many who will want to help,” she said. “We just need to get the word out.”

The church has received about $3,000 toward its goal. People who want to donate can do so by sending a cheque to First Lutheran Church, 580 Victor St., Winnipeg, R3G 1R2, or by visiting the church’s donation page at CanadaHelps and selecting International Sponsorship from the drop-down menu. All donations are eligible for tax receipts.

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