Years ago, the Farhats lived in a part of the world where being Christian is not safe. There were, and still are, institutions and social pressures that constantly made the lives of Christians difficult. However one day, this persecution was made all the more real when a few of the Farhats went to a Christian wedding. The wedding was disrupted by an armed, violent mob. Many were hurt and some were even killed. Afterwards, there was a lasting threat to the safety of Christians in that area.

Weeks later, the Farhat family learned that their home had been searched by the same mob, trying to intimidate them to renounce their faith and convert to another religion. Miraculously, they had been away on business and were warned by their neighbours as soon as they had returned. They decided to leave their home town and flee to different parts of the country to avoid capture. They went from city to city, but they were eventually found each time; some of the men were beaten and held hostage for a time. Law enforcement was unsympathetic and some charges were even laid against the Farhats, accusing them of blaspheming against the state religion.

After being unable to escape the persecution, and for fear of bringing it to other family and friends by trying to hide longer, they fled their country to Thailand. It was brief respite, because the Thai government did not recognize their refugee status and they could not secure recognition by the United Nations. The Farhats became a part of a large community of refugees in Thailand that could only flee there due to a weak passport, but are constantly harassed by immigration police. Regularly, some of their community are imprisoned and fined large sums of money. Tragically, the Farhats lost both of their parents after they couldn’t afford the up-front cost of medical care.

However, it was in Thailand that they met their current pastor and connected through Sandy and my church online during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sandy and I are small group leaders and never could have guessed that we would meet someone calling in to our zoom meeting from Thailand. For months, the Farhats were mum about their situation and existed in community with us.

After some time, the Farhats took Sandy and I aside and explained that the family had fled their home country due to religious persecution, that their lives were at risk if they ever went home. They told us that they had been in Thailand for over seven years without a hope of leaving because they didn’t have UN refugee status. In total, they are five adult siblings and a spouse; Canada represented their final hope of living in a country that was safe for them.

Initially we needed some time to process, and also to make some phone calls to the Farhats’ pastor and other contacts to verify their story. But after the details crystalized, we very quickly decided that we had to help. We couldn’t leave our friends in danger, and we know that many people would feel the same way. We set about gathering information on the overall refugee sponsorship process, and explored official channels of how the Farhats might arrive in Canada. The application process takes time and paperwork, but there are some elements of their story that make us confident that they will be accepted into our country:

• They would be in danger if they ever went home

• They are persecuted because of who they are

• They are not safe where they are currently staying

It was actually a relief when we realized that the logistics and money would be more than we could possibly provide on our own. We know that we have an amazing community in Vancouver, and people have stepped up in incredible ways to even get us this far. We are so incredibly grateful to our friends, family, and Church community who have partnered with us to help our beautiful friends in the Farhat family. Our sincere wish is that all of the Farhats arrive in Canada safely as soon as possible, so that we can go from calling them our friends to our neighbours.

Thank you so much for reading this far, please let us know if you would like to help.

-Kevin

*Names have been changed for safety. Learn why in our FAQs.