Nest is financially supporting several refugee sponsorships this year. One family fled the violence in Sudan and the other fled the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Your donations are needed and appreciated.

Refugee sponsorships are expensive. It now costs $16,500 to sponsor an individual refugee and $27,000 to sponsor a family of four. Many struggle to raise the funds for the sponsorship of their relatives. That is why Nest decided to help. Here are two of the sponsorships we are supporting:

Sudanese family of four who fled the violence in Khartoum:

Nest contributed $6,000 towards the sponsorship of Zalikha’s* relatives who escaped the violent conflict in Khartoum, Sudan when fighting broke out between rival military factions in April 2023.

As the fighting spread across the city, Ahmed (an engineer), his wife Malaz (who has her Master’s degree in animal production) and their two young sons were forcibly displaced by insurgents who looted their home. As they fled the city, bombs and missiles exploded around them. “Our children were deeply traumatized, struggling to find solace and sleep amidst the ongoing turmoil,” he writes. They eventually made it to Ethiopia, then Saudi Arabia. But Ahmed is not allowed to work there and the children cannot go to school. Nest submitted the sponsorship application in August with the support of the Canadian Lutheran World Relief.

Afghan family of five:  Nest contributed $7,500 towards the sponsorship of Asma’s* family, Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

Asma arrived in Saskatoon in October 2021, one month after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan. Asma was among the students of Marefat school evacuated to Canada through the 30 Birds Organization. The eldest of five children, Asma has been working to sponsor her mother and four siblings to Saskatoon. Her father died of brain cancer in 2017. Her mother struggled to support the family as a single parent.

When the Taliban returned, she was no longer allowed to work outside the home. The family is a member of the Shia religious minority and Hazaras cultural minority.

In addition to Nest’s $7,500 donation, the Saskatoon Rotary Club and individual Nest members have contributed funds towards the $52,000 sponsorship. In May, the sponsorship application was submitted through the Mennonite Central Committee.

We have reached our fundraising goal for this family, so your donation will go towards our next Afghan sponsorship.

* For privacy reasons, we are not using their real names.

Support Nest’s refugee sponsorships.

Step One: Choose which sponsorship you wish to support:

The Sudanese family of four in Saudi Arabia

The next Afghan family

General fund

Step 2: Email your tax-deductible donation to nesttreasurer2@gmail.com and name the sponsorship you wish to support: 1, 2, 3 or 4.

Or include your choice on your cheque payable to Nest Saskatoon and mail it to: Nest Saskatoon, c/o Augustana Church, 1201 Broadway Avenue, Saskatoon, S7H 2A4

Thank you for supporting Nest Saskatoon.