Four years ago, Nest received a letter from an Israeli woman named Sharon (unknown to Nest members), asking if we would consider sponsoring “an exceptionally talented and brilliant young man” named Adil, a Sudanese refugee from Darfur living in Israel.

At the age of 17, Adil was forced to flee his village of Golo in Darfur, when the Janjaweed attacked in 2003.  He sought safety in the nearby town of Nyala, then the capital of Khartoum, then Egypt and finally Israel, where he was held in the Holot prison for 18 months for the “crime of seeking asylum” in the country. With the legal assistance of an NGO, he was eventually released, but granted only “temporary status,” which meant he could be forced to leave the country at any time.

“Against all odds,” Sharon explained, Adil had overcome enormous hardships and graduated with a degree in business and economics from IDC Herzliya University.

“I can assure you that he will be an amazing contributor to any country that will have the privilege of accepting him as a citizen. I cannot explain how shameful I feel that my own country is rejecting refugees.”

Sharon’s letter was the impetus for Nest’s sponsorship of Adil. With the assistance of the Saskatoon Catholic Diocese, we submitted his refugee application to the Canadian government in December 2023.

Yesterday, Nest received notification Adil will arrive in Saskatoon on October 16.

“Being welcomed to Canada means a lot to me,” Adil said in an email to Nest. “It ends more than 20 years of uncertainty and living in limbo. It will be my new home where hopefully my best story begins.”

Sometime (hopefully) soon after Adil’s arrival, we are also expecting to greet Adil’s wife Samia and their son Sambil, who were not allowed to join Adil in Israel and are currently living in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.