Refugees going home to Congo
Left alone in misery after daughter dies
By: Carol Sanders

Updated: October 9 at 02:50 AM CDT

AN elderly refugee couple cast adrift when their caregiver daughter died this summer will have their wish granted.

Thanks to the local Congolese community, as well as the kindness of strangers, Zafali Evele and Abedi Kipala, both in their 90s, are going back to the land of their birth to spend their final days.

"I'm telling you they are very, very, very excited," said Deo Namwira, president of the Congolese Community of Manitoba. "They didn't believe it at first -- they needed to hear it from independent and neutral translators."

The Congolese community and volunteers like Brenna Croker of Charleswood -- who canvassed door-to-door after reading their strange, sad story in the Free Press -- collected more than $5,000 for the long journey back to couple's Congo village.

Namwira said the Democratic Republic of Congo's embassy in Ottawa has offered to provide free travel documents for the seniors, who fled civil war six years ago.

On Wednesday night, Namwira, Croker and others who've taken the couple's plight to heart met to iron out the travel details.

The frail, culture-shocked couple had been living in misery in their late daughter's rank, run-down suite on Langside Street since her funeral in June. Ida Kipala had taken care of her parents, walking to their apartment three times a day to prepare their traditional meals, but died suddenly at the age of 66. Since then, the couple refused to return to their apartment, where they couldn't communicate with anyone or stomach the food that home-care workers provided. They struggled to get up the steep, narrow stairs at their daughter's place to go to the bathroom or to their bedrooms on the second floor. They didn't know how to use the stove and couldn't speak English or French to shop or do their own banking.

"They had gone for two days without food," said Balex Kabamba, who was alerted to the couple's plight by another member of the community. "(Abedi) fell twice. There was no heating and they were wearing their parkas in the house. When I heard that, I was very upset."

Kabamba, a nurse, was also worried about the couple being isolated, so he and his wife and three teenage kids invited them to stay at their home until it's time for them to return to Congo.

"I am nobody. I don't know them. I'm just putting myself in their place -- they could be my parents," he said. The Kabambas made room in their bungalow on the main floor for their visiting "grandma and grandpa."

"They were very, very happy," said Kabamba, who is trying to get dentures for the elderly couple, who struggle without teeth.

The Congolese community and donors are planning a farewell for the elderly couple "to send them in an honourable way," said Namwira.

"We'd like to end on a very positive note," even though their experience in Winnipeg wasn't a positive one, said Namwira.

The couple, their daughter, Ida, Ida's mentally challenged daughter and two grandsons came to Canada in the last year as refugees from Congo. They'd spent the previous five years in a Burundi refugee camp.

When one of the grandchildren was diagnosed with diabetes at the camp, the family was brought to Canada on compassionate grounds. When Ida died, her grandchildren were placed in foster care. Their developmentally delayed 40-year-old mother is expected to go to a Winnipeg care home, said Namwira. He said their circumstances are extremely unusual.

"It was not a mistake bringing them here," said Namwira. "The intention was good."

Close to 50 relatives will welcome Evele and Kipala in Congo and their home village Kindu when they return later this month, said Namwira.

Knowing that they're going home to die has given the sad, hopeless seniors new life, he said. "Hope can give you strength and keep you going."

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca