Out of the clutches of war into waiting arms
The Newton family of Midland will be a bit bigger this Christmas season War-weary Congolese refugees prepare for a new life, writes Jessica Leeder
“ Africa is finished.”
After “ thank you,” those were the most telling words breathed by jet- lagged Congolese refugee Lucy Magie when she entered the country yesterday, through an airport portal of automatic glass doors.
Pushing a luggage cart through Pearson’s Terminal 1 with more children than bags — all hers were lost in her trip’s London leg, except one pink, sparkly suitcase — Magie looked tired. Wearing borrowed parkas and winter clothing, so did her kids. But the lost luggage didn’t faze them. The four were finally on their way to their new family and home.
For at least the next year, Magie and her kids — Dieu- Merci, 7, Setishe, 5, and Danny, 3 — will be living with the Newtons, a Midland family that has done all but move the earth to get them refugee status here. They’ve employed an immigration lawyer for over a year, paid for relocation costs, rearranged their lives and opened their home.
Garry Newton, a retiree and United Nations volunteer, first met Magie and her children two years ago in Bunia, in the warravaged Democratic Republic of Congo. Then, Magie was a struggling single mother and a housekeeper for Newton and his comrades. Magie’s husband had been shot and killed by warring groups while she was still pregnant the year before.
“ I got to know this family very well,” Newton said yesterday, while waiting anxiously for the Magie family’s flight to arrive. “ Seeing how they were and how they survived and knowing what their future was, I felt I just had to do something for them.
“ It was sad, sad to be there. Sometimes I wish I’d never gone.” Newton said it was Magie’s “ devotion to her kids” that made him want to virtually adopt her family, fly them away from the mud and bamboo hut they were used to living in and fold them into his own. Phase one of his plan, Newton said, was to sponsor the Magies.
Phase two involves supporting the four until they are educated, self- sufficient and able to live on their own. The cost will be about $ 1,500 per month. As for the details, Newton said the family hasn’t gotten there yet.
“ I’m scared, really,” Newton’s wife Sharon said, smiling yesterday while rattling off a list of all that they’ve done.
“We’ve been empty-nesters. I’m nervous,” she said, adding: “ It’s been really good for our family.
‘‘ We’re seeing the world in a new way right now.” The process of bringing the Magies here was intimidating, wrought with red tape and constant headaches, Newton said. But yesterday, via Uganda, Nairobi, Brussels and the United Kingdom, the new members of his family finally arrived.
Grinning and speechless, the kids hugged Newton, his wife and others who had come to greet them. They batted around balloons and hugged their new teddy bears while the adults wiped away tears and hugged each other.
Outside, the kids’ grins grew wider in the cold. Dieu- Merci marvelled at the sight of his breath. Quietly grinning, Setishe ate a fistful of snow. Newton said he was glad the Magie family arrived in time to enliven Christmas as well as his retirement, which he “ doesn’t care for,” he says.
“What’s important is volunteering your time helping somebody,” Newton adds.
Donations to the Magie family can be made at the Scotiabank on King Street in Midland, Ontario. Make donations payable to the Peanuts Project, or email Garry Newton at garrynewton@ mid. igs. net.