Classis In The News

REFUGEE TURNS DISADVANTAGE TO TORONTO YOUTH’S ADVANTAGE

By Sophie Vandenberg

Ben Osei is turning his disadvantage to the advantage of young people in Toronto.  A Ghanaian refugee who is separated from his own children, including a 3-year-old daughter whom he has never seen, Osei works with youths in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Toronto, many of whom come from fatherless homes.

“There is violence and shooting.  Nobody wants to get involved in their lives.  A lot are just living with their mom,” he says.  “Their mothers or [both] parents are working in the factories, and kids are left to find their own way.”  Osei’s work is funded by a partnership of churches, including Baptist, Pentecostal, and the Salvation Army, as well as Friendship Community Christian Reformed Church, Toronto. 

Osei, whose own future is shaky, says he has applied for refugee status in Canada on compassionate and humanitarian grounds but has been living in limbo for four years and is currently facing a removal order pending the outcome of his immigration status.  He fears for his safety should he return to Ghana.  “[We are] working feverishly to have his removal stopped,” said Rev. Fred Witteveen, pastor of Friendship CRC.

Meanwhile, Osei offers Toronto youths companionship, guidance, and focus.  “I live right in the community.  I’m in a role like a surrogate father,” he says.  While a number of the girls have started attending Friendship Community CRC and some of the boys have started going to the Baptist church, Osei says his immediate focus is on building trust.  More than 50 boys and 20 girls participate in Osei’s basketball program.  ‘Instead of just running around, they know they have basketball at least every week,” he says.  Some of the girls have also joined Friendship’s choir and become involved in craft activities.

“He has a unique way of touching kids, especially using African sorties,” says Witteveen.  Osei uses traditional Ghanaian fables to reach youth at their level.  “The stories are fiction but have a moral to them,” he explains. 

Thought his own future is in question, Osei is concerned for the future of the young people he works with.  “It is very stressful, but I just have to pray for the kids.  I’m hoping that now that adults are involved in their lives they will grow up to be responsible,” he says.

From The Banner, September 2003.  Used by permission.