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NewSpirit - Widow’s Persistence Pays Off

Viola Kossigbo, Elaine Adam and Victoria Kossigbo

Widow’s Persistence Pays Off
submitted by Michael Boulger

This article is about a refugee family and their 15-year battle to come to Canada. The complexities of this story stagger the imagination. It concerns the Kossigbo family. The bare facts are more or less straight forward, but the devil is in the details.

In 1993 Ade Sawbo, a Liberian, living in the Buduburam Refugee camp in Ghana, was co-sponsored for immigration to Canada by Trinity United Church and the Canadian Government. Ade attended the University of Manitoba, earned her nursing diploma, and is now employed as a nurse in Winnipeg.

In 1999, with the help of Trinity, she applied for sponsorship for her husband, Victor Kossigbo and his two children, Viola, age 10, and Victoria, age 7 (in 1999). Their birth mother disappeared when the girls were small.

By 2003 all three had valid visas and were approved to come to Canada; but due to limited funds Victor left the girls in the care of a relative and immigrated to Canada alone. He was re-united with Ade, and found work almost immediately.

From that time on the journey to new life encountered a bewildering tangle of twists and turns that often left the Kossigbos and the people of Trinity fearful that at the end of the dark tunnel, there will always be another dark tunnel and another.

However, all through this “wilderness wandering” there was a presence that kept us going: God of course, through our prayers, but at the human level that presence was Elaine Adam, a member of Trinity, who, like the prophet Isaiah was willing to answer God’s call, “Here I am, send me” (6:8). Elaine’s soft-spoken, modest, unassuming manner is misleading. She has a fire for justice burning in her soul, and with the tenacity of a bulldog, embraced the Kossigbo’s cause and made it her own, and refused to let go.

But the task was daunting. It was at this point that Murphy’s Law kicked in: “What can go wrong will go wrong.” When Victor and Ade, with the help of Trinity, finally garnered enough money for the girls’ travel and other expenses, we found out The Canadian High Commission in Ghana had apparently lost the girls’ medical records and needed $500 to re-do them. Then the plot thickened: the visas were time-sensitive and were no longer valid. In addition, we were told the birth certificates were inaccurate, and doubts were raised, re, whether Victor was indeed the legal father. As in the games of Snakes and Ladders, we suddenly slid back to square one!

During 2006-7, Victor and Ade were obliged to adopt the girls before they could come, at a cost of more than $6000. It cost $100 every time we sent or received correspondence by courier to or from their Ghana adoption lawyer (necessary because there is no reliable mail service). In order to adopt his own children both Ade and Victor had to appeal to Manitoba’s family services department for a “home study” so the Ghana judge would approve the adoption.

Trinity was supportive of the Kossigbos all through this nightmare, both financially and with prayers and moral support. However, Elaine was the cook that kept the pot boiling; the linchpin that held the whole project together; the lighthouse that guided us through the shoals. Elaine looked after reams of correspondence; made copies of hundreds of documents; wrote countless letters. She attended court hearings in Winnipeg, frequently lobbying for a quick home study to expedite things.

Finally, miraculously, in May 2007 the door was apparently open and the girls were free to come. A member of Trinity was prepared to pay the travel costs. The High Commission in Ghana had all the necessary documents. The Refugee Board had given the green light. Manitoba’s CFS had approved adoption. And what happened next? Nothing! Silence from overseas. Week after week and month after month we waited with growing trepidation. Since most of the documents were time-sensitive, would we eventually be told that they are now out-dated and we must start all over? Another setback in the game of Snakes and Ladders?

Finally the suspense was broken. In late November 2008 we received an urgent message: the girls will be arriving at the Winnipeg airport at 1:00 a.m., November 28th. I never really believed the miracle had happened until the girls actually walked through the security gates. They received a tumultuous welcome with tears and hugs and peals of laughter. I kept pinching myself to see if it was actually happening.

Jesus tells a story in Luke 18 known as the Parable of the Persistent Widow. It seems to illustrate Elaine’s role in this miracle. Verses 2-3, “There was a judge in a certain town…and also a widow who kept on coming to him and saying, ‘I want justice from you against my enemy.’” Verse 4, “For a long time he refused, but at last he said to himself,’ I must give this widow her just rights since she keeps pestering me, or she will come and slap me in the face.’” (New Jerusalem Bible)

Though Elaine is a not a widow (she is happily married to Edwin Somers), the parable seems remarkably appropriate to describe the work of this quiet, background hero who never gave up the struggle. This is surely a timely lesson for all of us in patience and perseverance, and in the importance of relentless prayer.

Michael Boulger is a retired ordained minister and part of the Trinity United Church Outreach Committee in Winnipeg.

P.S. Victoria is enrolled in grade ten at Gordon Bell Collegiate, and Viola will be starting at the Adult Education Centre in downtown Winnipeg on February 2, 2009.

This article is part of NewSpirit - a collection of stories, opinions, information, and tales of congregational events and mission from around our conference. We welcome stories and pictures that reflect the life of your congregation or ministry. Contact the conference office if you would like to contribute to NewSpirit Online.