Refugee Family Celebrates 50 Years in Canada

In 1972, Pyarali Nanji, his wife, Gulshan, and their four children got word that they, along with 60,000 other Ugandans of South Asian lineage, had 90 days to leave the country that they had long called home.

 

Stripped of their citizenship and assets and declared stateless, the family fled. Thanks to mercy flights organized by the Canadian government, they found sanctuary in Montréal, Canada. They stayed in temporary lodgings at the downtown YMCA, which took care of all their immediate needs. The Nanji family never forgot the kindness they were shown in the face of catastrophe, and they pledged to pay that kindness forward when they had the means to do so.

 

Eighteen years later, Pyarali started a hugely successful packaging firm in Toronto, and the family decided it was time to make good on their promise. They launched the Nanji Family Foundation, which has donated millions of dollars to Canadian hospitals, including St. Mary’s Hospital, where Gulshan had been treated for rheumatoid arthritis.

 

“My father was so impressed by the way we were treated, the way our host country took us in during our time of need. It was always his goal to be able to give back.”

 

https://www.globalheroes.com/refugee-celebrates-50-years-canada-unhcr/