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Four Ugandan kayakers have arrived home after competing in the freestyle kayaking world championships on the Ottawa River at Beachburg.
Canadian immigration officers had twice rejected their visa applications, apparently over concerns they would not return to Uganda and seek refugee status.
The Ugandans, based at Jinja on the shore of Lake Victoria near the source of the White Nile, were the only African contingent in the competition.
Each visa application cost more than $200 per person and ate into the funds the team raised to pay for the trip.
A potential third refusal was preceded by an outcry among Canadians, especially those in the international sporting community, and widespread international media coverage of the Ugandans’ predicament.
It isn’t clear how the third application differed from the first two, but the process was also costly for the Africans because it also meant a significant increase in the cost of flights for the four athletes.
But in just eight hours shortly after the visas were granted, they crowd sourced more than $7,000 U.S., on social media, largely from the international kayaking community but also from individual Canadians.
Aside from kayaking, the four team members — Sadat Kawawa, David Egesa, Yusuf Basalirwa and the lone woman, Amina Tayona — visited a local school in the Beachburg area, attended a demolition derby and a county fair.
None had previously been outside of Africa or travelled by air.
“It was an experience that is hard to put into words, one that I will never forget,” Egesa told a welcoming ceremony in Jinja. “So many people came together to make it happen. It is very special, and we are so grateful to everyone who helped us follow our dreams.”
The publicity that preceded the Ugandans’ arrival in Ottawa made them a firm crowd favourite at the championships, said their British-born coach Sam Ward.
Individually, the four didn’t finish in the top groups but Ward said their ability to take part in the competition, and a first chance to learn from competing against the world’s best, was always the primary goal.
“The competition was intense and the team did amazing in their rides,” said Ward, “especially considering they only had a few days to adapt. (They) finished above a good few well-established and experienced athletes.”
Ward, now living in and representing Uganda, advanced through the rounds of the competition to take sixth place overall, giving the team the highest placed finish at the world championships for any African nation.
Several local companies helped accommodate and outfit the four, who left Uganda immediately after their visas had been approved and sufficient funds had been raised to get them to Canada.
The four work as guides and instructors on the Nile.
ccobb@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/chrisicobb
查看原文...
Canadian immigration officers had twice rejected their visa applications, apparently over concerns they would not return to Uganda and seek refugee status.
The Ugandans, based at Jinja on the shore of Lake Victoria near the source of the White Nile, were the only African contingent in the competition.
Each visa application cost more than $200 per person and ate into the funds the team raised to pay for the trip.
A potential third refusal was preceded by an outcry among Canadians, especially those in the international sporting community, and widespread international media coverage of the Ugandans’ predicament.
It isn’t clear how the third application differed from the first two, but the process was also costly for the Africans because it also meant a significant increase in the cost of flights for the four athletes.
But in just eight hours shortly after the visas were granted, they crowd sourced more than $7,000 U.S., on social media, largely from the international kayaking community but also from individual Canadians.
Aside from kayaking, the four team members — Sadat Kawawa, David Egesa, Yusuf Basalirwa and the lone woman, Amina Tayona — visited a local school in the Beachburg area, attended a demolition derby and a county fair.
None had previously been outside of Africa or travelled by air.
“It was an experience that is hard to put into words, one that I will never forget,” Egesa told a welcoming ceremony in Jinja. “So many people came together to make it happen. It is very special, and we are so grateful to everyone who helped us follow our dreams.”
The publicity that preceded the Ugandans’ arrival in Ottawa made them a firm crowd favourite at the championships, said their British-born coach Sam Ward.
Individually, the four didn’t finish in the top groups but Ward said their ability to take part in the competition, and a first chance to learn from competing against the world’s best, was always the primary goal.
“The competition was intense and the team did amazing in their rides,” said Ward, “especially considering they only had a few days to adapt. (They) finished above a good few well-established and experienced athletes.”
Ward, now living in and representing Uganda, advanced through the rounds of the competition to take sixth place overall, giving the team the highest placed finish at the world championships for any African nation.
Several local companies helped accommodate and outfit the four, who left Uganda immediately after their visas had been approved and sufficient funds had been raised to get them to Canada.
The four work as guides and instructors on the Nile.
ccobb@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/chrisicobb
查看原文...
