A big shout out to all of the wonderful people who supported us in raising funds in order to get Ismail to Canada.
Here is an update on where Ismail is at the moment from the lovely Dawn Barrington, a refugee advocate, who organised the fundraiser:
While in Melbourne I visited Ismail and he is going OK but not brilliant. It is very difficult for all the guys at the Mantra Hotel because they are confined to one floor and most of them are staying in their rooms. It’s been 8 months for some of them. It was lovely to see Ismail and he is extremely grateful for the opportunity to go to Canada and he can’t stop telling me how much he appreciates the support from all of you. You have given him hope which is something he has not had for 7 years now.
Ismail’s application is now with Canada Immigration. The organisation Mosaic who have been doing the processing and submitting applications have contacts in Canada to organise the sponsors over there. It’s an incredible group of people working really hard here in Australia. They have 200 applications to process and because Ismail had the funds raised his went in early in December. So fingers crossed everyone that it won’t be long. It could be 3 months or 6 months or longer.
Once again thank you everyone, you have made a huge difference to someone’s life. He also told me last night that his mum even said thank you for supporting her son. He has not seen her for over 7 years and she has been so grateful that there are people who care about him. Once he gets to Canada and starts working he will be able to pay for her to come and visit him.
From our point of view at Martin Bullock Lawyers, this is one of the best things we’ve been able to do. We’ve been able to raise money to help change and save somebody’s life. We thank you all for that, particularly the generous people who donated to his cause.
I will keep you updated on Facebook and on our website so that you can follow Ismail’s story.