They made it Safely to Uganda

My aunt and her children made it safe and sound!

As many of you may know, my uncle arrived in America from Burundi in May for my graduation party and ceremony (Master’s Degree).  Prior to and since arriving, his family’s safety has been my main concern.  I began a fundraiser to move my aunt and her seven children from Burundi to Uganda, which is much safer.  Information about each family member is available on the GoFundMe. I am beyond grateful for my friends and networks who donated, prayed, shared and tweeted the fundraiser. We all know that money is needed in order to make moves in any part of the world. About a month ago, once the graduation chatter had settled down, I began to speak with my uncle about his reality that he will face should he return back to Burundi–the grim reality of facing torture and death upon re-entry into the country forced us to begin the asylum process for my uncle to stay in the country.

Once we realized that my uncle was not returning to Burundi, we had to begin to think of how his family of seven children, including a teenager who is wheelchair-bound would survive. As I talked to him, so many of his fears became my fears. He worried that they would take his older boys and kill them, he worried that they would torture his wife and leave his kids motherless, and he worried that his youngest child would never live long enough to see her third birthday. With all this on my mind, I went over to my best friend Vern’s house and ranted, internally cried and felt hopeless on how I could save the family. We came up with the idea to find out how much, realistically, it would cost us to move the family within a few weeks from Burundi to a safer east African country. After talking to my family, they decided on escaping to Uganda where they would be safer.

I began to pray as I worked with my contact in Burundi who I trust with my life. He began to explain the costs for different things and I began to feel that it was not going to be possible. I prayed and prayed, a month ago after gathering all the needed and consulting with an immigration attorney, we began to get all the needed documents and travel arrangements ready (I have to add a quick side note: ALEX literally traveled to every part of Burundi and Uganda obtaining everything we needed, SUPER LOVE BESTIE).  The power of people’s love and generosity made this possible.

As this was happening, we received word that my aunt had been asked to appear at a government agency, and knew that we had to get the family out as quickly as possible. For all the friends who got my annoying and desperate pleas to please donate, thank you for tolerating my desperate need. I am a strong believer that God would never give me a task that would have been too big for me to handle and I realize that with the folks in my life all things are possible.

On June 8^th, they left for Uganda–many of you might have received the email asking for safe travels. They arrived safely and had all the needed documents thanks to people like y’all who donated, prayed, and sent positive energy throughout the process. They ran into a little bit of a snag with the first house they were going to rent, when the owner stated the family was too large. My friends Alex and Gervais worked tirelessly to find them an appropriate residence in Uganda, and found a beautiful home where they will be staying for the next couple years while my uncle’s asylum case is resolved.

I am not going to say we did not face challenges during this process. We faced financial, emotional, and logistical challenges, but all were resolved and my family was able to safely get to Uganda. They are SAFE, far safer than being in Burundi. The plan will be for unification of my uncle and his family in about two years, hopefully this will also be an expedited process like everything else has been. I refused to allow my cousins, especially the little girls to live in a refugee camp. When I was their age, I experienced tragedies in the refugee camp and I could not do that to my family. Your donations went to keeping my cousins out of the refugee camp and safe in a nearby rental.

Some of you have asked what the process was like and I can say truthfully that it was as if God wrote out the plan and had folks like Vern, Alex, and Gervais manually executed the plan. For Vern reading and responding to the GoFundMe questions and keeping total on how things were going as (I was to overwhelmed to deal with all that was happening at once). To Alex who assisted with every single step of getting my family the needed passports, travel documents, calling me constantly to let me know what was needed and to my love Gervais who unconditionally agreed to accompany them along with Alex on this journey to assist my aunt with anything she might need. I can’t begin to also thank Coleen Wagner who literally took my calls as I cried my eyes out thinking that I had made a mistake in beginning this whole process. I love you all to the core. And finally to the AMAZINGLY, LOVING, and generous army of friends and family who are by my side and who watch my back as I needed y’all, I will never be able to say enough thanks, but what I can say is I am loved and feel so honored to call y’all friends.

Side note: for those who did not see the GoFundMe I apologize due to safety concerns I was not allowed to post it in any public forums. I had to private message to friends. If you are still interested in assisting my family in their adjustment please follow this link. Please also enjoy the amazing pictures that have been sent to me.

Please send me any questions at withlovefromburundi@gmail.com or just comment on this blog.

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH ENJOY THE PICTURE 🙂