March 31 2026 McDougall Christ Moravian Refugee Support Group Update
One of our young Palestinian couples was excited to announce the birth of a healthy baby boy on Dec. 25 2025. Both are doing well. He is a handsome boy and gaining weight, smiling and gurgling just as he should. The father continues to work at the immigration consulting office and is also driving for Uber to help cover expenses so they are a busy family. Both parents have refugee status and applied in October to become permanent residents. The rest of the family is still waiting on their application to be accepted as refugees.
The mother in our Eritrean family got a survival job working the night shift at the local Superstore. She does not get a lot of sleep during the day when the two children are home. The older daughter is doing well in grade four. Thanks to three volunteers driving, her four-year-old is able to attend pre-school three mornings a week. The teachers are pleased with her progress and so is her mother.
Some of us took 7 of the 9 members of our large Afghan family bowling and we all had a great time. They continue to be a wonderful family to support. They are all in English classes and the older twin works shifts at a Superstore as well. The parents are a very happy couple who have raised a happy family.
The Afghan mother and three daughters that we are co-sponsoring with their son here in Calgary was approved to come to Canada by IRCC (Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada) before Christmas. The family had fled to Pakistan several years ago to escape abuse and risk of death there from family members and the Taliban. They had started the process with the Canadian Consulate in Islamabad to come to Canada when they were deported to Afghanistan due to changes in Pakistan law and corrupt police. Soon after this change, the war between Afghanistan and Pakistan started, making their return to Pakistan very challenging in the near future.
Travel is complicated due to Taliban restrictions on women travelling and not being able to rent hotel rooms without a male. Meanwhile our co-sponsor is working very hard at a dangerous job to send money home to support his family. He is an engineering graduate who needs 3 more years working for an engineer to get professional certification. Please pray for him and his family.
Thanks to the 150+ people who signed the petition we delivered to MP Stephanie Kusie’s office in February. Her office has contacted IRCC twice on the family’s behalf but because the family was deported from Pakistan back to Afghanistan there is little they can do for us at this point. Pakistan closed their consulate in Afghanistan because of the war.
The Canadian Council for Refugees is starting a media campaign called Better Together. The intent is to counteract the negative messaging from a variety of political parties, blaming immigrants for shortfalls in such areas as housing, health care and education. There are some posters up on the main hall bulletin board at McDougall about this campaign. One of the things the campaign will emphasize is positive stories about newcomers who have settled in Canada. In our own work over the past ten years we can communicate success stories about our first Syrian family, the two earlier Palestinian families and our first two Afghan families.
Thank you again for continuing to support us – financially, by offering household goods and asking us how things are going. Knowing you support us makes all the difference to this work.
I would also like to thank some unsung heroes – Sarah Reuangrith, McDougall’s communications coordinator, for helping us get the word out and of course Jen in the office and our treasurer Norma May for keeping our finances in good order.
Marjorie MacRae,
Team Lead, McDougall United, Christ Moravian Refugee Support Group
On behalf of Rhonda, Bonita, June, Donna, Janet, Evelda, Jean, Kiran, Michael, Joanne, Francis, Leslie and community members.
To learn more about the Refugee work that happens at McDougall, please visit the Refugee Support webpage.