Defrauded Kenyans Living in Canadian Streets
Defrauded Kenyans Living in Canadian Streets
Defrauded Kenyans Living in Canadian Streets
Kenyans in Canada have contributed Ksh1.5 million to help more than 20 of their countrymen who are sleeping on Toronto’s streets. The fund-raising initiative that attracted considerable attention and support started as a grassroots campaign among Kenyans residing in several Canadian cities. They raised money through a number of crowd funding websites, neighborhood gatherings, and social media efforts.
Steven Safari, a Kenyan living in the city, told the media that the situation had gotten alarming after images of Kenyans sleeping by the side of the road appeared online. He continued by saying that the problem was getting worse since several brokers were defrauding Kenyans of their hard-earned money by promising them a better life abroad.
Through the charity drive, money was donated to help purchase 200 tents, gumboots, gloves, and other winter-ready clothing items. Safari questioned why so many foreigners were falling for scams, shelled out roughly a million dollars, and abandoned their families behind to travel and sleep on the streets in new countries.
“More than 20 Kenyans are sleeping in the streets of Toronto, with some having used over Ksh500,000 to move from Kenya to Canada through agents,” he lamented.
“Most Kenyans are going to Canada through agents, go through visit visa and hoping to change to their status by claiming for Asylum. The high number of those seeking Asylum has increased and has thus strained the Canadian government’s capacity to provide basic needs to the applicants who are therefore left stranded.”
In a past interview with CBC News in Canada, Susan Toth, a worker at the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) program, attributed the rise of asylum seekers to people facing discrimination and seeking a better life abroad.
As a result, there is a severe housing shortage in the nation and a high need for laborers in Canada.”They aren’t here to make our housing crisis worse. The need for workers is really high in Canada as well. So let’s make room for them. Toth exhorted, “Let’s be the community we’re supposed to be.
