On August 9, a group of local volunteers gathered at the airport in Winnipeg to welcome some of Niverville’s newest residents. The family of three was exhausted but overjoyed—their harrowing journey on the run had finally ended.

The parents, still fearful from years of running for their lives, have requested anonymity for this story. I will call them Sarah and Mark.

Open Doors Niverville, a local refugee sponsorship committee, learned about Sarah and Mark’s plight in February 2017. While the committee hadn’t been actively pursuing a family for sponsorship at the time, a need was shared by City Church of Winnipeg and the committee jumped into action.

Elaine Kehler of Open Doors says the local committee was encouraged to help out due to their unique affiliation with MCC Canada, which generally helps makes sponsorship easier. The committee was presented with a thick file of refugees awaiting sponsorship from countless locations around the world.

“It was really hard,” Elaine says. “I said, ‘There’s thousands that need our help. How are we going to do this?’ We [finally] chose them based on their story.” 

Religious Persecution 

Born in Pakistan, Sarah became a target in early adulthood when it was discovered that she held to Christian beliefs in a country where Islam is the only accepted religion.

“[There was much] discrimination of Christians,” Sarah says. “They forced people to convert to Islam… Because they say the country [practices] the Islamic religion of peace, they don’t want people [of other faiths] to spoil [their country]. They have the concept that Christians are not really believers, they are disbelievers… We are forbidden peoples… We are [like lepers].”

Being a non-Muslim in Pakistan, she says, means not having the right to higher education. Getting a job is near impossible. Worst of all, the government’s anti-blasphemy law means the mere practice of another faith is considered blasphemous and is punishable by death.

According to Sarah, this law gives power to the country’s citizens to not only accuse but also carry out the punishment. She says it is considered laudable for Pakistanis to mete out such a punishment on non-Muslim citizens and that they believe it will be rewarded in the afterlife.

“I saw Sarah’s paperwork long before I started having contact with her,” says Elaine. “I have [seen] three documents that are death threats… [She was accused of] blasphemy, shaming her family, and escaping the [potential] marriage to a Muslim man. So, if she had stayed in Pakistan, there were three reasons they could have killed her.” 

On the Run 

Sarah met Mark at a small house church run by her Christian grandfather and uncle. Her mother, too, was a Christian but adhered to her faith in silence while married to Sarah’s Muslim father.

When the death threats on Sarah’s life first surfaced, her extended family sent her away for fear of their own safety. When Mark pledged to marry Sarah, he too was alienated by his family for the threat she now posed for all of them.

The couple began a life on the run, living for short periods of time in different communities, attempting to escape the death threats that followed them.

 “It is incredible to describe,” Sarah says. “They searched [our homes], they [physically] attacked us and we were trapped. Can you imagine that for seven years?”

During those years, the couple gave birth to a son. By mere affiliation, his life was also in danger. Escape from Pakistan seemed the only answer. But with a government-issued warrant against Sarah, they were unable to get past airport authorities to board a flight out of the country.

They befriended a Pakistani Christian missionary who had become known for aiding Christians in their escape from Pakistan. He arranged for a large sum of bribe money in the hopes that Sarah and Mark would be permitted to fly to Thailand.

“They could have killed us [for bribing officials],” Sarah says. “They could have just handed us over to fundamental groups or extremists. They have that authority.” 

Hiding in Thailand 

Sarah, Mark, and their infant son were eventually allowed passage to Thailand, a country already inundated with asylum seekers. But the Thai government was busy developing their own extreme measures, meant to deal with the illegal aliens who were arriving in their country by the thousands.

To be caught as an illegal alien in Thailand meant deportation or spending time in one of the country’s International Detention Centres (IDC).

 “If you look up information on the IDC in Bangkok, you will see that [the conditions] are horrific,” says Elaine. “There’s standing room only for some of them. They separate the men, women, and children. The [inmates] take turns sleeping because there’s no space. They don’t necessarily get food unless there’s someone from the outside bringing them food. So either they get sick and die or they go crazy and die. Most people die in detention.”

For the next five and a half years, the couple struggled for survival while keeping a low profile. A kind-hearted landlord provided a small apartment, putting himself at risk in the process.

For a while, the couple was able to subsist on small donations of food and money from local Catholic churches or volunteer organizations. Eventually, those gifts stopped coming as the country’s refugee problem grew.

 “We suffered a poor life in Thailand,” Sarah says. “We didn’t have enough money to survive.”

Police raids on apartment buildings and workplaces were also a regular threat. Sarah recounts numerous times when she and Mark hid in their tiny apartment, trying to silence their young child as doors were being broken down throughout the block in search of illegal refugees.

Even so, Mark had no choice but to venture out of doors and seek employment to feed his family and pay the rent. In 2017, police removed Mark and five other men from their workplace, holding them at a police station until they could be moved into detention. He was certain he’d never see his wife and child again.

As the Open Doors committee worked on this end, Mark experienced something Sarah believes was the hand of God at work. Two strangers appeared at the police station with bribe money that would provide for the release of Mark and the other five men.

Following the couple’s terrifying journey closely, Open Doors found themselves at a loss to move the sponsorship process more quickly. Instead they sent monthly cash transfers to a friend of the couple to help keep them alive. In the meantime, Elaine pursued help from local leaders and out-of-country officials to try and get the family out of Thailand before it was too late.

“We can’t imagine that people would do this really hard work for us,” Sarah says. “[Now] we are here, but it still feels like a dream. I just feel the warm hug and love from people.” 

At Home in Niverville 

Since their arrival in Niverville, a furnished apartment and car have been provided for Mark, Sarah, and their six-year-old son. Open Doors has made it their mission to provide everything the family will need for their first year in Canada while they hone their English and learn the subtleties of life in a new country.

Various Open Doors members have divvied up the responsibilities which will help make the family’s transition as smooth as possible, including teaching them to budget, assisting them in acquiring needed documentation, and eventually filling out resumes and helping them find work.

Open Doors Niverville is now welcoming assistance from the community for a variety of financial and practical needs. Elaine says the committee is still in need of $4,500 to meet their goal of a full year’s support. In-kind donations are also being accepted.

But, not to be disregarded, human connection and friendship is something the family hopes to build here in their new hometown.