I first heard about the Bashir family at the 23rd general council (Debrecen 1997). Sabine Dressler-Kromminga spoke to me about the refugee family from Pakistan living in the basement of the church she was serving in Germany. The family had relatives in Toronto and wished to immigrate to Canada.

A visit to the Toronto relatives revealed that they were not able to sponsor the Bashir family. But eventually we found the five sponsors needed: three men from the Ahmadiyyah mosque in Toronto, Stephen Farris - a member of the WARC executive committee (1989-1997) - and myself. In February 1998 we met to complete the many forms required by the Canadian government, declaring that we would be responsible for their settlement in Canada.

For the next two and a half years nothing seemed to be happening, except for fax messages from Sabine to say that the waiting was creating increasing pressures at her end. As recently as January 2001 the whole effort to bring the Bashir family to Canada seemed to have come to a standstill.

The Bashir family say good-bye to Braunschweig
Leaving Braunschweig

In April 2001, word suddenly came that everything was in order. The eight Bashirs had less than a month to make arrangements to come to Canada. On April 24 they arrived at Pearson International Airport, Toronto.

The next day I visited the Bashir family in their temporary apartment in Toronto, welcomed them to Canada. Together we said prayers of thanksgiving. Today, they have their own apartment, Mr Bashir has a job with a janitor service, some of the children are attending school and others are registered to begin school in the fall. All of them appear in good spirits.

Patti and Stephen Farris have agreed to coordinate a collection of furniture and household items to equip the new apartment. My wife, Dorcas, and I are planning a gathering of the Bashir family, their Canadian relatives, and the five sponsors, for the summer.

While the Bashir family seem content to be in Canada and are looking forward to making a new life for themselves here, they are extremely grateful to Sabine and all the wonderful people in Braunschweig for the care and concern shown to them during their long sojourn in Germany.