Family First: A Story of Determination

The International Day of Families has been observed in May since 1993, when it was first proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly. The day was established to recognize the important role that families play in society, raise awareness about issues facing families, and to deepen an understanding of the social, economic, and demographic factors that influence them.

For Samuel Habte-Fotto, this day held special significance for him in 2026. His family, which had been separated for 18 years, was finally reunited this spring in Halifax, Nova Scotia, due in part to the assistance of The Salvation Army.

When conflict broke out in his home country of Eritrea, which borders northern Ethiopia, Samuel fled in 2008 and sought asylum in Israel under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. This group works to assist people who have fled their own country because of ongoing conflict or war. His four young children stayed in Eritrea when he became a refugee, and for 14 years they were in the care of extended family.

During that period of separation, Samuel was in constant contact with his three sons and daughter via phone and video calls and supported them financially by sending whatever money he could from what was earned working in restaurants. While he was establishing a new life in Israel, he remarried and had three more children, but the four he left in Eritrea always weighed heavily on his heart. He knew that in order for them to have a better life, he had to get them out of their current situation.

In 2021 and 2022, this family experienced important changes that gradually brought them closer together. Samuel’s eldest son, who had completed an accounting diploma, was of age and therefore required to join Eritrea’s military service, so he and his siblings wanted to leave the country. Due to changes in the immigration policy in Israel, they could not go to their father, but instead, in 2021 they fled to a refugee camp in Uganda. Their ultimate goal was to reconnect with their father and that was the only option they had at that time. While in Israel, Samuel processed his Canadian permanent residence application and in 2022, with his new wife and three young children, the Habte-Fotto family came to Canada. He included his four refugee children, now aged 15, 17, 19 and 21, on his paperwork. He was determined to not leave them behind.

In speaking with Samuel’s eldest son Naeb, he reflects on the difficulties of life in the refugee camp.

“Life was hard. We didn’t understand the language, have any support or our own house. We rented a small place. The weather was completely different – Eritrea desert, Uganda green and wet and this caused frequent sickness.”

Eventually Naeb and his siblings found people from their own country who helped them when they could, but this help wasn’t always guaranteed.

“The camps weren’t safe at night and the policing wasn’t adequate,” Naeb recalls. “Desperate people would kill someone over $150.” He goes on to say that while food was supplied, it was never enough and they would not have survived without the money that was sent by their father.

After Samuel arrived in Canada in 2022, he, through the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia (ISANS), was told about the One Year Window of Opportunity (OYW) program, as well as the guidance that The Salvation Army offers to newcomers.

Atif Khokhar is the Settlement Coordinator at The Salvation Army Spryfield Family Resource Centre in Halifax and in partnership with ISANS offers free services to newcomers such as checking eligibilities and completing paperwork for various applications that are needed to establish their lives in Canada. When Atif met with Samuel they immediately got to work processing an application under the OYW program to reunite him with his grown children who were still refugees in Uganda. The OYW application to reunite a spouse and/ or dependent child(ren) must be completed in the first year of arrival in Canada.

With Atif’s guidance at The Salvation Army Spryfield Family Resource Centre, Samuel completed this application and in 2023 after three years of paperwork and waiting, the approval finally came through. In March 2026 he received an email saying that the application was processed in Nairobi and that his children would be released to come to Canada. When his children, whom he had not seen in 18 years, were notified, they had to keep this information secret because they could be in danger if the wrong person found out that they held paperwork that would get them out of the camp.

On April 16, 2026, Atif accompanied Samuel, with his wife Senait and their children, to the Halifax Stanfield International Airport to meet the rest of the family – Naeb, Noah and Msghna. His little boys that he hadn’t held in 18 years were now grown men. As life-changing as this day was, there was also sadness and loss. Somehow, Samuel’s daughter was lost to her brothers at the camp in Uganda. Now an older teen, they don’t know where she is and she did not come to Canada with them.

The loss of his daughter grieves Samuel and his sons, but they are moving forward, now settling into life here in Halifax as a newly blended, international family with eight children and two parents living in an apartment. The search for their sister continues while the boys register for various schools and look for work in this new, free, safe, and family-filled world.

Samuel is grateful for the help provided by Atif Khokhar and The Salvation Army Spryfield Family Resource Centre, and through his tears says that there are no words to describe the feeling of reunion.

To support The Salvation Army and its ongoing work with families like Samuel’s, click here.

By Wendy Woodland