Bolu Coker

From the Catalyst, Summer 2017

The Lightless Sky: A Twelve-Year-Old Refugee’s Harrowing Escape from Afghanistan and His Extraordinary Journey Across Half the World

By Gulwali Passarlay

HarperOne, 2016

Reviewed by Bolu Coker

The Lightless Sky is an inspiring personal account of a twelve-year old boy’s journey to safety from Afghanistan to Europe. Gulwali Passarlay tells a story that brings to life the precarity of refugees’ living conditions on their journeys to refuge.

Fearing the Taliban, Passarlay’s mother arranges for him and his brother to be smuggled out of the country. The brothers are separated early on, leaving Passarlay at the mercies of smugglers and other refugees he encounters along the way. Upon hearing of his brother’s arrival in England, Passarlay defies all odds— smugglers’ extortion, multiple imprisonments, and even a near-death experience— to be reunited with his brother.

At CPJ’s Annual General Meeting in Winnipeg, Shaun Loney delivered a keynote address on the real essence of reconciliation in Canadian society. Loney’s book, An Army of Problem Solvers, provides deep insights into the connections between reconciliation and economic prosperity in Indigenous communities.

By Asha Kerr-Wilson and Bolu Coker

When we think of the Syrian refugee crisis, political unrest and terrorism immediately come to mind. Very rarely do we ever think of climate change and poverty as casual factors in this crisis, or in our current global refugee situation. It’s not an obvious connection many of us have made.  A closer look at these links is necessary to ensure we can address the ever-evolving conflict situations of our times.

Newcomers to Canada, including refugees, experience poverty at a troubling rate.

While the level of poverty among refugees remains unclear, our 2016 report on poverty in Canada reveals that 34 per cent of new immigrants and refugees live in poverty.  

We cannot claim to celebrate Christ this Christmas without caring for refugees.

This Christmas, Christians across the globe will, once again, celebrate the life of a special gift—Jesus Christ—whose work and ministry revolutionized the quality and purpose of human life.

From the Catalyst, Winter 2016

Alan Kurdi, a two-year-old Kurdish-Syrian boy, drowned alongside his family members in the Mediterranean on September 2, 2015. The world vowed to do more. Many developed a greater compassion for refugees, but more is required.

The United Nations’ 71^st Annual General Assembly was very different this year.

Unlike other years, where the focus has been on economic or political issues, there was a predominant focus on migrants and refugees. Canada’s refugee resettlement policy was highlighted as a good example for the international humanitarian effort on refugees. In many ways, Canada’s resettlement system is indeed a model for the world. However, it still needs a lot of improvement before it’s ready to be exported.