Building a Family's Future
Ricardo and Lety's story
As told to Leah Reesor-Keller
Ricardo and Lety are from Latin America. To protect their identity, their home country is not named, and city names are changed.
Ricardo and Lety's story begins with a tale of romance. They first met at a church service outside of their home city of Buena Vista, a small city in the north of the country. Ricardo had just moved back to the area, and was looking to connect with a church community. Lety just happened to be attending
the service that day, though she usually attended a church closer to her home. She invited Ricardo to come to her home church, and their romance began, though slowly. Says Ricardo, "It took me two years to get Lety to date me, and after five years, we were finally married!"
They lived a happy life together in Buena Vista. Ricardo worked for FedEx, and had the chance to learn some English. Lety worked for a financial institution until the birth of their first child, Ricardo Jr. After the birth of their second child, Eric, Ricardo was offered a new position with FedEx in the southern city of Santa María.
In Santa María, Ricardo began to develop an interest in journalism and started to do some independent reporting for a local radio station. During that time, political campaigns were underway for the election of a new state governor. The two main parties were fierce rivals, each seeking to gain political power. Ricardo's radio broadcasts publically challenged the ruling party, known as the People's Democratic Party, or PDP, for not living up to the promises made when it was elected, and for authorizing construction on land that had been designated an environmentally protected area.
The first threat to Ricardo came during the election campaign. Police officers paid to serve as body guards for the PDP approached him while he was out reporting from a campaign rally.
"Stop talking," they warned him. "Don't say anything about this political party."
Ricardo was shaken, but he brushed it off as empty rhetoric and continued reporting on the election.
But things changed when the PDP lost the election. One day when Ricardo was driving back home from work, two dark pick-up trucks hemmed him in and stopped him on the road. He could tell by the license plates that they were undercover police vehicles. He recognized the men in the trucks. They were the same PDP bodyguards that had threatened him before the election. They forced Ricardo out of his car, and this time they beat him. More distressing for Ricardo than the beating, the men threatened his family. The attack happened on three blocks from Ricardo and Lety's home. The men knew his address, and the names of his family members. After the attack, Ricardo knew his family had to leave Santa María.
Yet these threats of violence weren't the only problems facing Ricardo and Lety. Lety had been diagnosed with a potential cancer and was undergoing treatment. During this time, Lety became pregnant again with a third child. The baby boy was born prematurely, after only six months of pregnancy. Twelve days after birth, the child died. Only later did Lety find out that the cancer had never existed; her doctor had treated her only to collect medical insurance payments.
Shortly after, they found out that their youngest son Eric had severe hemophilia, a rare blood clotting disorder that can cause serious and even life-threatening internal bleeding. Left untreated, the internal bleeding that can happen in joints and muscles can leave a child crippled for life. With proper medical treatment, a normal and healthy life is possible. Yet for Ricardo and Lety, finding treatment for Eric proved to be a serious challenge.
The treatment is complicated and expensive. Ricardo's health insurance company refused to pay for treatment, and the local hospitals in Santa María could do nothing for Eric. Even a hemophilia specialist refused to treat Eric when he found out how severe his hemophilia was. "When he outgrows the stroller, you better get him a wheelchair," the doctor said. Eric was only eighteen months old.
Unsure of where to turn to next for help, Ricardo and Lety contacted the local hemophilia society. What they found was many other children suffering from severe and painful disabilities because of the lack of treatment for the children.
Between the threats of violence and the lack of treatment options for Eric's hemophilia, Ricardo and Lety were in agreement. They had to leave Santa María.
With hope for a brighter future, the family returned to Buena Vista. They hoped to leave the threats from the PDP behind, and to find better treatment for Eric. Lety's sister, who also had children suffering from hemophilia, was the head of the Buena Vista hemophilia society. They hoped to be closer to her for support and for the possibility of better health care options.
Yet the family's hopes of a peaceful life were soon dashed. The PDP tracked Ricardo down at his parents' house in Buena Vista. "The Party is everywhere in the country," said the thugs. "If you ever work as a journalist again, we'll find you."
With no better options for Eric, and now threats of violence even in Buena Vista, Ricardo and Lety knew they needed to leave the country. Ricardo started researching their options.
Lety's sister had recently travelled to Vancouver for a hemophilia conference. She came back excited about how well children with hemophilia in Canada are treated, plus the beauty of the city. That led the family to start looking into possibilities to come to Canada. Because of the threats of violence and the beating that Ricardo had received from the PDP, they decided to apply for refugee status in Canada.
Ricardo and Lety sold everything they had, left behind their friends and extended family, and bought tickets to Toronto. It was risky, but for Eric and Ricardo Jr. to live in health and safety, they knew had to do it.
On August 13, 2007, the family arrived at Toronto's Pearson Airport and claimed refugee status. Ricardo remembers the ordeal vividly:
When we got off the plane, we walked over to the customs officer and I said I needed refugee status. They took me away into another office, and I spent all night filling out papers. Though we were taken into custody, thankfully the officers didn't put handcuffs on me for the sake of the children. It was still very stressful. Finally, the officer questioning me said ‘You don't really have enough reasons to be granted refugee status, but I'll give you a chance.' She signed the papers, and we were shown out to the main arrival lounge. ‘Welcome to Canada,' the officer said, and shut the door.
The family had made it into Canada, but they were stranded in an airport lounge at five in the afternoon, with no one to call for help, and not much English. The officer had given them the number of the Canadian Red Cross to ask for assistance, but it was already after business hours, and they wouldn't be able to reach someone there until the next morning.
So they wandered around the airport until they found a taxi. "Please take us to a hotel, not too expensive," said Ricardo.
"First time in Canada?" asked the taxi driver, himself originally from the Middle East. "You should take your kids to a smaller town, it's better for them to grow up outside the big city."
The next morning, the Red Cross staff relocated them to a shelter in Scarborough, and they began the process of applying for refugee status in Canada.
During that first week, Eric needed to go to the hospital. The shelter paid for them to take a taxi to Sick Kids Hospital. A specialist hematologist, one of the top in the world, saw Eric and treated him that day. Ricardo and Lety rejoiced that Interim Federal Health coverage paid for the treatment.
Though they started their Canadian journey in Toronto, Ricardo and Lety remembered the taxi driver's advice. They met others from their home country at the shelter, one of whom knew someone in Kitchener. Two months later, they decided to leave the big city and move to Kitchener. Their contact in Kitchener referred them to the Mennonite Coalition for Refugee Support (MCRS), who could help them settle and navigate the process.
Ricardo remembers his first impressions of MCRS:
When MCRS took on our case, it was like having a parent to comfort and guide us. When you arrive in a new country everything is new. You need support and guidance, and you have to look for help. It is so important to get the right information so that you can make a good start in Canada. We felt that MCRS was like a family we could count on.
Finally, after waiting 10 months, the day came when Ricardo had his refugee hearing. After explaining his case to the Immigration and Refugee Board member, his claim was denied. The member ruled that he and his family were not in need of refugee protection in Canada.
Yet despite that setback, Ricardo and Lety didn't give up. MCRS assisted them with making a claim to stay in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. MCRS staff members Eunice and Jennifer helped the family put the application together, and organize the supporting documents.
Over a year passed with no word on whether they would be accepted as Canadian residents. Finally after almost a year and a half, they received a letter from the immigration officers saying that because of the high costs of Eric's hemophilia treatments, they would not be allowed to stay.
"We had 60 days to reply to the letter," remembers Ricardo. "We put together a big team. MCRS helped with translation, doctors at McMaster Hospital where Eric was being treated after moving to Kitchener wrote letters of support, the Canadian Hemophiliac Society paid for a lawyer to help us and provided more letters of support, and we gathered information from hospitals in our home country. Our church The Gathering Place, together with MCRS, helped us put it all together, and we sent it in, praying for good news."
The family went back to waiting and watching the mail, hoping for the best.
Two years and eight months went by until one day, MCRS director Eunice got a call from an immigration officer at the Kitchener Citizenship and Immigration office, who asked her to make an appointment to come in with Ricardo.
The officer started the meeting by asking first of all to see Ricardo's documents. As he started to pull them out, she stopped him. "Never mind," she said. "Here are your papers. You're accepted!"
The officer had tears in her eyes. She explained that Ricardo and Lety's case had gone all the way to headquarters in Ottawa, and that she had done everything she could to see it approved. She was so excited about the positive decision that she had decided to tell Ricardo in person rather than sending a letter.
When she heard the good news, Lety wasn't surprised:
Through out the process, I was living in a lot of fear. I felt sick, and I wasn't sleeping. I just prayed all the time. Many times I felt like God had forgotten us. But very deep inside me was a little voice that told me everything would be okay. One day before Ricardo's meeting with immigration officer, I should have been nervous but I wasn't. That was the first time in the whole process that I could feel good news coming.
Ricardo recalls how he felt when he heard that the family could stay in Canada, and Eric could continue getting the medical treatment he needed:
After receiving the news, I felt like the weight of the world was taken off my shoulders. I think that God definitely put angels in our way to help us. Angels like the MCRS staff, Eric's doctors, and fellow church members. All these people were angels put in our way to help us.
It will be another nine to twelve months before Ricardo and Lety receive their final permanent residence papers. They continue to face obstacles as they seek to support themselves financially in Canada, and establish a new life here. But they no longer have to live with the weight of uncertainty hanging over them. Now they have the security of knowing that they will be able to stay, and make Canada their home.
